Attractive: Book 1 in Attractive Series
by Clare Spradley I
Summary: Slightly AU. Riley Matthews was never ugly, but Lucas Friar was never attracted to her. That is until he returns to New York for Christmas break and finally finds her attractive. Their friendship continues to grow and maybe even more starts to blossom between the two. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is definitely a story for the ages. Rucas.
1. The New Riley Matthews

**AN: Okay so first off I just want to say that this is not me saying I think Rowan Blanchard or Riley Matthews it ugly. I think Rowan and Riley are beautiful, I think Peyton Meyer is beautiful, I think Sabrina Carpenter is beautiful, I think Corey Fogelmanis is beautiful, I think Ben Savage is beautiful, I think Danielle Fishel is beautiful, I think August Maturo is beautiful. I think anybody that is at all related to GMW is beautiful and if you are reading this story you are absolutely gorgeous and I love you already! I'm just taking this from the point of view as an average high school male. I think most guys around this age are more confused about their feelings than anything or convinced they feel one way when they really feel the other. Lucas Friar seems to be the exception to that. I get it and I like it but this is just my take on what their love story could had been like if Lucas hadn't realized how he felt about Riley right away.**

 **This is slightly AU. You can reference the first episode for sure but any Rucas moments that have happened so far aren't real or at least haven't happened yet.**

 **Also, this story is not fully baked so if you have any ideas that you would like to see happen between Riley and Lucas or any of the other characters (As long as they don't interfere with the ships I've already established), I would love to hear them. I can't promise I will use it but if I do, I will definitely credit you with the idea!**

 **Please follow, review and favorite! I am open to constructive criticism but let's keep it PG. I know this fanfic is mature rated, but it is a Disney franchise!**

* * *

Riley Matthews was never ugly, but Lucas was never attracted to her. He never needed a trophy wife but he still felt like if he was going to date somebody he would need to feel like she was attractive. If he ever dated Riley or Maya Hart, the other female friend in their fearsome foursome, he didn't want to risk losing them. They needed to be everything to him and neither of them were. Riley wasn't attractive to him and Maya had never said anything sweet to him unless it was concerning her or any other friends.

He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was about her he didn't like. He really did like everything about her and she could make him feel like nobody else could but a part of him always felt like he could do better. Her hair was this long, wavy, chocolate brown monstrosity that always seemed to have tangles in it. Her makeup started off fine but her black eyeliner was leaking down her eyes by the end of the day and her acne started to become more noticeable since her foundation would fade. Her wardrobe between middle school and high school hardly changed. He didn't expect her to wear a cocktail dress that barely concealed her rear every day or any day, but he had expected it to mature at least a bit between those years. Her body was straight and she barely had any extra weight on her chest.

Lucas wasn't trying to act like a shallow jerk or anything but he just never found her attractive. She was pretty but she wasn't drop dead gorgeous like some of the other girls he saw around New York. He respected that she wouldn't change who she was for him, unlike some girls he had gotten to know in his life. He certainly cared about her more than just about anyone. He felt bad because he knew she liked him. She wasn't as boisterous about it as Maya was to Riley's Uncle Josh, but she wasn't as shy as she was in middle school either. She had grown more and more comfortable with him as time went on, which really did make him happy. She would tell him she liked him and when he would reject her, she would brush it off or laugh but he could tell it hurt her. He didn't like hurting her. When he would date in high school, he saw the pain on her face, even behind the extra eyeliner and foundation she would wear on those days. It was because of her he didn't date as much as he could have in high school and because of her he didn't have a relationship that would last more than a few months.

Lucas, Riley, Maya and Farkle Minkus had all graduated high school last year. Farkle was of course top of the class and Lucas was in the top ten percent. Riley finished with a B average, which wasn't terrible, Lucas thought but he did have close to an A. Riley and Maya had decided to go to New York University since it was close to home and they weren't quite ready to leave their families or each other yet. Farkle had been accepted to Boston College and was planning on going there so he could stay close to home but far enough to get some distance from his slightly overbearing parents. Lucas had decided to go the furthest away from the group and returned to his home state. He was attending Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He felt a bit like Benedict Arnold since he grew up a Longhorn fan but A&M did have a better veterinarian program. He, like Farkle, felt like he needed a little distance from his parents but they were close enough he could visit them on weekends.

Despite the distance, he kept in contact with his friends through text messages and would sometimes call them if they weren't busy. He wasn't big on social media and would rather share details about his life privately with his friends. He hadn't seen Riley, Maya or Farkle in months but that was about to change.

Lucas was currently on a plane from Chicago to New York. He had been invited by Riley and her family to spend Christmas with them. He had told her he had plans with his family and she was surprisingly fine with it and didn't badger him at all like the old Riley would have. However, Maya and Farkle had other ideas. Eventually he asked his parents if he could go to New York for Christmas and they had also surprisingly agreed to let him go and even helped pay for airfare.

He was a bit nervous because he knew Maya and Farkle could scheme him into situations he didn't really want to be in. He had once been put into a date with Riley as planned by the devilish pair. All it had done was hurt Riley even more and make Lucas very upset with them. He was worried they hadn't told Riley at all and that she was going to be shocked he was there at her door. He had even worried that Maya had stolen Riley's phone and texted him about Christmas. He wasn't attracted to her but he did care about her and he didn't like hurting her. That was the main reason he never dated her because he knew if he had said yes to her requests she would be all in and he would call it quits sometime soon. He was a nice enough guy but he rarely stayed very close to any of his ex-girlfriends. He valued his friendship with Riley more than anything and didn't want to lose that. He also didn't want Maya or Farkle to have to choose between who they wanted to hang out with more because he and Riley didn't want to be in the same place.

Finally his plane had landed; he had collected his bags from luggage claim and hailed a taxi. He used to fly back to Texas on long weekends and breaks and then back to New York, so he was an old hat at this. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster as he got closer to Riley's parent's apartment. What if it was Maya who had texted him through Riley's phone? What if Riley saw this as a sign he was professing his love for her? What if they had to get married? What if they had children? Would they look like him? Maybe they could just have clone babies.

Lucas arrived in Greenwich Village and paid the cab driver. He took his bags out of the trunk and took a deep breath before entering the apartment complex. He hit the buzzer that would let him into the Matthews' apartment and heard a female voice on the other end that he would never forget.

"Come on up, Huckleberry," Maya said as she buzzed him in.

Lucas walked in and stepped into the elevator. He remembered some trips up this elevator as fast but never this fast. Before he knew it he was on the floor Riley's parents' lived. He slowly walked to the door and knocked. After no response, he knocked again a bit louder. He thought he had knocked loud enough but it turned out not to be true. The second time however, Riley's father and his former middle school history teacher, answered the door and looked at him surprisingly. Yep, that was definitely Maya who texted him.

"Mr. Friar?" Cory asked. "I didn't know Riley invited you."

"Hey, Cowboy," he heard as Maya Hart peeked out from behind Cory. Maya looked pretty much the same since the last time he had seen her. Her blonde hair showered down to her waist and she wore a black v-neck tee shirt and a pair of dark skinny jeans. She was only wearing socks on her feet but he guessed the tan suede boots in the corner of the room were hers.

"Hey, Pancakes," Lucas said with a bit of a strict tone in his voice. "I'm sorry Mr. Matthews."

"No, it's perfectly fine, Mr. Friar," Cory said. "You're always welcome here. Let me take your bags."

 _That was a bit odd Lucas_ thought. Cory Matthews was always nice enough to him but he always held a bit of a grudge to Lucas because it was pretty obvious that Riley had a crush on him. Maybe he was okay with it now because when he was Riley's age he was engaged to his wife.

Lucas entered the crowded apartment after Cory took his luggage. He hardly recognized anybody in the apartment. He knew Maya, and Farkle was on the window sill with his face pressed into a book. Shawn, Maya's stepfather and Cory's best friend, was there along with Maya's mother Katy and Riley's Uncles Josh and Eric were there as well. There were two people sitting at the dining room table that looked older than everybody else so he assumed they were Riley's grandparents. There was a good looking guy standing next to Eric he didn't know and a red headed girl as tall as a building helping Topanga with the meal. Riley and her brother Auggie didn't seem to be anywhere in the crowded living space.

"So you finally broke down and came, uh?" Maya teased him. "Couldn't stay away from the city could you?"

"Like you and Farkle gave me much of a choice." Lucas said. "How are you, Maya?"

"I'm doing good, how about you? Any girls in the heehaw state?"

"Yes, there are believe it or not." Lucas responded.

"No, I meant any you are interested in." Maya said.

"Oh, well, no," Lucas said. "Not yet. I'll find somebody someday though. But Maya I'm telling you now if this is a scheme to get Riley and I together I'm leaving."

"It's no scheme, cowboy," Maya assured him. "Calm down. Although I don't see how you couldn't find her attractive now."

"What?"

"Find who attractive?" Cory butted in to their conversation.

"The new Miss New York," Maya said quickly. "Isn't she great, Lucas?"

"Yeah," Lucas agreed.

Cory gave them each an odd look before shrugging his shoulders and sitting down on the couch.

"Hey, buddy," Lucas heard from behind him. He turned around to see Farkle. Farkle was a far cry from his middle school self. He wasn't the most attractive man on the planet but Lucas would catch girls staring at Farkle on the subway when they were in high school. He had exchanged his turtlenecks for plaid button downs and loosely fit blue jeans. He just looked like an average guy.

"Farkle," Lucas said as he patted his shoulder. "How've you been, buddy?"

"Good," he then leaned over to Maya and asked her, "Have you shown him to Riley yet?"

"Nope." Maya answered with a smirk on her face that made Lucas sick.

"What is going on?" Lucas asked. "Maya, I swear-"

"It's not a scheme to get you to date her, I swear on Riley's life." Maya responded. "But speaking of Riley, would you like to see her?"

"Sure," Lucas said as Maya and Farkle basically carried him to her room. They were definitely excited about something.

As they approached Riley's room, Lucas could hear Riley's voice coming from the inside. It was just her voice so he assumed she was on the phone with somebody. Maya then started banging on the door.

"Just a second." Riley shouted back.

BANG! BANG!

"Hold on," Riley shouted back a little more irritated at this point.

BANG! BANG!

"I'll be out in a minute."

Just before Maya knocked again, Lucas interrupted her.

"Maya, can't this wait? She said she'll be out in a minute."

"Nope." Maya said as she banged on the door again.

"Oh, for the love of- Lucas."

Riley had answered her door and was definitely surprised at what she saw, but not as surprised as Lucas was.

"I'll call you back, bye," Riley said to whoever was on the phone.

Lucas looked her up and down again to see if his eyes were deceiving him. This was not the same Riley Matthews he knew in middle school and high school. She was so much more different but in the best way possible. Her eyebrows, which were bushy before, were trimmed but still looked natural. She had traded in her globs of black eyeliner for a precise cat eye look across the top of her eye and some very natural looking eyeshadow. He acne was nearly gone or at least very well concealed. Her hair had been chopped off to her shoulder and her ends were the same color as Maya's but her roots remained natural. Her flowing, Bohemian clothes had been traded in for a more fitted simple shirt with navy and white horizontal stripes and a casual looking black blazer with a gold button in the center. She also wore a pair of dark skinny jeans nearly identical to Maya's. Also, was it just him, or did she had curves now? She looked very different but Lucas could tell she did it for herself and nobody else and that was what was beautiful about her.

Beautiful.

Yes, Lucas couldn't deny it. Riley Matthews was beautiful and for the first time in his life, he was attracted to her.


	2. A Midnight Conversation

**AN: Thank you all for the fabulous reviews, favorites and follows! I'm honestly blown away by how many of you enjoyed this! I hope this story continues to entertain you!**

 **If I rated it by chapters instead of stories, last chapter would be K and this would be K+ or T so keep that in mind. I'm moving fast! Also I think I'm going to update once a week, probably** **Friday afternoons** **so you can get your GMW feels before watching a new episode Friday nights** **.**

 **Keep up following, reviewing and rating!**

* * *

After Lucas got over the shock of seeing the new Riley Matthews, he and the gang headed back downstairs. He was introduced to Riley's grandparents, Alan and Amy. They were both very nice and reminded him of Cory and Topanga. He had his first real conversation with Shawn and found the thing he loved most about Katy was that she was okay with him always going on the road for his job. He found out from Katy that she hated pretending to put on a brave face for him whenever he would leave. He had an interesting conversation with Riley's Uncle Eric about politics but it seemed that Eric only knew about people issues. He was also introduced to Jack, the good looking man next to Eric, who also happened to be Eric's best friend and Shawn's half-brother. There's something about those Matthews and Hunters. The tall red headed woman who was helping Topanga in the kitchen was named Rachel and she went to Pennbrook with the gang back in the day and roomed with everybody except for Cory and Shawn. Lucas probably had the best conversation with Riley's Uncle Josh, even though that itself was pretty vague. Nonetheless, Lucas enjoyed his time at the Matthews' residence.

Thankfully, everybody had made arrangements of their own for the night. Amy and Alan were going to stay with a friend in town, Jack, Eric and Rachel were going to stay at Shawn, Katy and Maya's apartment and Josh would stay at his place. That meant that Lucas could sleep on the Matthews' couch. It wasn't the best place but he had slept in worse. He remembered when he was about ten years old, he got locked out of the house because he snuck out to see the horses and had to spend the night in the barn with just a few stacks of hay to keep him warm. Yes, the couch was far better.

The only problem was Lucas hadn't quite adjusted to the night life of New York again. Luckily, Greenwich Village wasn't a very loud part of town but it was still much louder than Texas. He also didn't typically fall asleep until around midnight at the earliest anyway. He was studying with medical students after all. It was impossible to come back to his dorm with absolutely no work to do.

He sighed as he turned over on the couch, facing the back. He doubted this would help him since it was a tad suffocating but at least he could block out the New York night life a little better. After laying there for what felt like an hour he huffed loudly as he turned around again.

"Can't sleep?"

Lucas jumped as he heard the voice. He looked to the dining room table to see Riley sitting there eating the milk and cookies Cory and Topanga had left for Santa. Riley and Auggie had stopped believing in Santa Claus a long time ago but it was still fun for the parents to do and Riley wasn't going to complain about getting a midnight snack.

"Hi," She said as if she just saw him in the halls of John Quincy Adams Middle School and not like she had just startled him half to death.

"Hey," He said as he smiled at the familiarity of this exchange. No matter what changed, they could at least always have this.

"Do you want a cookie?" She asked as she picked one up from the tray after finishing the one that was in her hand.

"Sure," he said as he stood up from the couch and took a seat across from her at the table. Lucas hadn't been able to talk to Riley at all since their first look at each other since Riley's mother and come and informed the bunch that dinner was ready. Then, Lucas had been swarmed with conversation after conversation from everybody in the family and Riley also seemed preoccupied, but she didn't seem to miss the looks he shot at her. She merely smirked back.

"So how's Texas?" She asked.

"Pretty good," He responded. "I feel like a bit of a traitor to be honest."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I grew up a Longhorn fan. You know, University of Texas? And they are pretty big rivals with A&M."

"Oh, really?" She asked as she took another bit of the cookie.

"Yeah," He said. "It's like when the Knicks play the Celtics."

"Oh," Riley shuddered. "That's bad."

"Yeah," he said with a chuckle. Riley was by no means an ESPN insider but she knew more about sports than any girl he had ever met.

"What about New York? How's the family?"

"We're doing pretty good." Riley said. "Mom's still a partner at Elliot- Brown and doing well. She's on fire now actually. She won three court cases in the past day! And dad's still teaching middle school. He has Auggie in his class now. He keeps texting me telling me how awful class is and I tell him he'll live. But dad's actually up for a job at the high school now so maybe that will make more money. But Auggie's going to be so upset."

Lucas couldn't help but chuckle at that. He liked Mr. Matthews but welcomed change and having the same history teacher for more than two years was too comfortable for him.

"So are you still studying to be a vet?" She asked.

"Yeah," Lucas responded. "It's a lot of fun but a lot of work."

"Tell me about it." Riley said.

"Oh, really? Get that much work being an elementary education major?" He teased.

"I actually switched majors about two weeks into school." Riley said.

"Oh, really?" Lucas asked, intrigued. "What to?"

"Pre-law," Riley said.

Pre- law? Lucas had never pegged Riley as a pre- law type. Although her mother was a lawyer so he couldn't be to surprised.

"How did you get into law?" He asked.

"I had some free time so I thought I'd come here. It was either that or spend all the money I don't have. Well, I ran into my mom and she was leaving for court and dragged me along with her so I thought I'd give the court room a shot. It was amazing! She stopped an innocent man from going to jail! It just made me think I want to do that too, you know? I mean knowing all the trouble Maya gets into, and I've always defended her but I've never been able to defend her in front of any real authority. I don't want to have to defend Maya in court but if I have to, nobody knows her better than me."

Lucas couldn't believe the person he was talking to. The Riley Matthews he knew was smart but in a very naive way. This Riley Matthews was very intelligent and sophisticated and even funny. How could she make the court room sound funny? He would never know but she did.

"Anyway, that's why I'm awake because I'm usually awake working at this time."

"Yeah, me too." Lucas said. "That and all those horns and sirens outside are driving me insane."

"Oh, come on," Riley said. "It hasn't been that long, has it country boy?"

"Oh, god." Lucas sighed. "Maya is enough, not you too?"

Riley laughed quietly. "I'm not going to call you Huckleberry or Bucky McBoing Boing or Ranger Rick if that's what you're worried about."

Lucas sighed in relief. "Okay, good."

Riley laughed again. Even her laugh sounded different. It didn't sound like she was copying anybody she had heard in her life or on TV. It just sounded like her. It was beautiful.

There was that word again.

Beautiful.

They just stared at each other for a bit and finished off the last bit of the cookies before Lucas finally broke the ice.

"You've changed." He said simply.

"Oh, you mean my hair?" Riley asked as she reached up to her shoulders to grab at the ends. "Yeah, Mom and Dad said I couldn't dye my hair until I left the house. Not after that incident where I tried to be a nerd in seventh grade."

Lucas chuckled at the memory but that wasn't quite what he was going for. Yes, her hair was different and it too was beautiful but he was trying to convey a bigger message.

"No, I mean you. You've changed."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Riley asked, suddenly looking small for the first time that night.

"It's a great thing," Lucas said as Riley lifted her head. "I mean you were great before but… I guess what I'm trying to say is change isn't always bad."

"Yeah." Riley agreed. "I'm beginning to find that out myself."

Lucas didn't know what she meant by that, but she smiled at him so he smiled back. Once Riley had finished the last of her cookie and Lucas the last of his, they each let out of yawn then chuckled.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Riley said before staring off in the corner. Lucas looked after her but didn't see what she was looking at.

"What?" He asked. Riley then stood up and walked to the entrance of the hall. For a moment, Lucas thought she was going to ignore him and go back to her room. She stopped right at the doorway and simply pointed up before raising an eyebrow.

"That wasn't there this evening." She said. Lucas finally saw what she was pointing at.

Mistletoe.

Did she want him to kiss her? Is that what she was trying to say? Was she assuming he put it up there before he fell asleep? He certainly didn't. In fact he didn't see anybody back there since…

"Farkle."

"Maya."

They both said their best friend's names at the same time.

"I knew this was a scheme." Lucas muttered, but Riley heard him.

"Yeah, I thought they were acting suspicious before you came." Riley said. "I guess the king has been fouled."

Lucas sighed and was about to say good night until Riley said something to him.

"You know, I would hate to lose my scheming title to a scheme that didn't even work."

"W-what are you saying?" Lucas said as he felt his heartbeat start to race.

"I'm saying you are a law abiding citizen and I'm studying to be a lawyer and it's my job to enforce the law. It is a Christmas law, you know."

Lucas didn't know what to say. It was pretty clear what she wanted but he didn't want any complicated feelings with one of his best friends. He didn't want some random kiss to be the cause of years of friendship unfolding.

"This-this wouldn't, you know, be the start of anything?" He asked.

"No," Riley said instantly. "This is just me closing a chapter of my life."

"You're closing your chapter on me?" Lucas asked.

"No," She instantly said again. "I'm closing the chapter of my crush on you."

Lucas' eyes widened. She was ready to move on? He guessed he should have seen this coming. They didn't live in the same state at all anymore. Nowhere close. Even if he was sure he wanted a relationship with her, it would be unfair to ask for one long distance. She needed to move on from him and he knew that but he couldn't help but feel a little pang in his heart when he thought about it.

"Okay," Lucas said as he stepped under the mistletoe. He looked up to see she was mere inches from him. He could feel her rapid and random breaths on his cheek. Surprisingly enough, Riley was the one to make the first move by placing her hands on his chest, rising to her tiptoes and kissing his right cheek. He stopped breathing then. It was glorious. He felt like somebody had set fire to his cheek then mashed a large ice cube to the side. He touched it gently with his own hand to make sure it was real. Once he felt that it was, he figured he should make the next move.

Riley kept her hands on his chest while he let his encircle around her waist, resting just above her hips. He pulled her in a little closer to him and gently placed his lips on her forehead. He closed his eyes as he felt her soft skin with his lips and also felt her take in a breath that she didn't let out until he pulled away, seconds later. He then closed the distance between them and pressed their foreheads and noses together. He could feel Riley's unsteady and now heavy breathing against him and he was sure she could feel his too. He moved his left hand up from her waist to caress her cheek then moved down so he was cupping her neck. Her arms moved around to his back. He was going in to kiss her when she spoke.

"How was that, country boy?" it was a soft whisper that sent chills down his spine that he was sure she could feel.

"Amazing." He said before he could stop himself. "How about you, city girl?"

He felt her smile before she answered.

"Perfect."

That was the breaking point. He closed the small space between her lips and his. It was incredible. A fireworks show started dancing in his head as he kissed her. He had been kissed plenty before, but never like this. There was passion, there was heat, there was caring, there was love and there was even a little bit of innocence.

He felt her tongue demand entry and didn't deny it. The fireworks in his head were now bursting every split second, one right after the other. He had never felt like this before and if he were being honest, he didn't want to stop. He didn't need food or water, just Riley. If by some unfortunate incident he was killed right now, he would die happy. He wanted to stay here all night.

Her hands were everywhere, all over his back and his chest and his had moved into her hair, grabbing it as if it were the only thing keeping him upright but she didn't seem to mind. He could never have predicted what she was going to do next. Never in a million years did he think Riley Matthews would do this to him or any guy. But the next thing he knew, he felt her hips buck into his. He could not suppress a moan as she did this and he was pretty sure she could now tell he was enjoying this very much. He also figured out only a little bit after that, that he was going to have to be the one to stop this. He didn't want to but as much as some of him wanted to spend the night with Riley, he knew he couldn't. Slowly, he ended the kiss pulling back. He didn't even open his eyes and he dove back in for a quick peck. Once he opened them, he saw her staring up at him with those big brown doe eyes and puffy red lips. He could tell she wanted more but knew it was time to call it a night.

Riley must have caught on because she smiled softly at him and dropped her hands.

"Good night," She said. "And Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Riley," Lucas said as she went back to her room.

Lucas Friar would have fallen asleep with a smile in his face if he didn't know one thing.

Riley Matthews' crush on him was over and his crush on her had only just begun.

* * *

Riley Matthews went to sleep that night knowing one this for sure; it wasn't going to be easy to get over Lucas Friar.


	3. Royalty

**AN: So I checked my Traffic Stats for this story and it hit a 1,000 views Sunday afternoon! Thank you all so much again for more fantastic reviews and favorites! I love all of you and your reviews and favorites are much appreciated!**

 **I did get one review I wanted to address really quickly because I agree with it but I don't. It was a guest review that I chose not to show but I wanted to explain myself a bit because I'm sure this person isn't the only one who feels this way. They basically said this this** **gives off the vibe of more of a Lucaya fanfic than a Rucas one because of the way I'm writing Riley. I actually thought about that when I was writing this story and I was afraid of that so I understand what you are saying. The reason I'm writing Riley this way is because I think for the most part, whether we realize it or not, we all change at least a bit when we make the jump from elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school and high school to college (or maybe that's just me.) I also really appreciate that the writers of GMW are making Riley and Lucas wait to start a relationship because I don't think they are ready yet. The whole point of this story is that maturity wise they are ready so that's why I'm writing Riley this way. It had very little to do with her new look, it's just what a semester of college turned her into and it may be for the better or it may be for the worse. That's for you, the reader, to decide. I'm not upset and I'm not trying to call you out or anything I just thought I should explain where I'm coming from because I'm not sure if I'm incorporating it into the** **story very well just because this is more about Lucas and Riley's relationship rather than how Riley has changed. Thank you!**

 **I might post Chapter 4 before Friday just because I think this chapter is only here for fluff reasons. No promises but we'll see!**

 **Like I said, none of the fabulous moments that have happened between Riley and Lucas in the series so far have happened in this story but this is kind of my take on what happened in Girl Meets Friendship.**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

Lucas woke up bright and early the next morning, despite only getting a few hours of sleep. He didn't expect to get that much after his encounter with Riley. He didn't not enjoy the kiss but he just wished it wasn't her way of getting over him as a crush. He wished it would be the start of something new.

Honestly, if Lucas could draw up his dream girl, she wouldn't come close to Riley. Riley had always been kind and innocent to offset some of Lucas' anger and guilt. He buried it deep down inside himself a long time ago but it was still a part of him. She was always there to oppose it in high school. She was caring towards him and all her friends, whether it be someone in their close pack or somebody who sat in the background. She was selfless, even more so now. Last night, he was sure she asked more questions to him about his life than he had asked her. She was cute. She was really cute. She always had been but Lucas was convinced he wanted a girl that was hot or sexy, rather than cute. There was still something about her charm that could bring him to sit by her in class or at lunch that nobody else could do. The only thing missing from her was her looks but she had that now.

All he could think about was how big of an idiot he was. He could have been dating her since middle school but instead pushed her aside for his own selfish and shallow reasons. He was sure she could have been the best thing that ever happened to him but he was too busy checking out Missy Bradford and pining for her attention, only for her to stand him up on their one date than have Riley Matthews who was always sitting beside him. She was always there and he had the opportunity to see her at her rawest when she would profess her feelings for him and he had shut her down. Even when she would do this back then, it hurt her so it hurt him. Now, looking back, it hurt him because he couldn't see past every flaw she had, which wasn't much.

He was treated to a good breakfast by the Matthews' of bacon and eggs. Riley had come out of her room and sat beside him only ten minutes later. When her father was getting more orange juice and her mother was placing some bacon and eggs on a plate for her, Riley gently nudged Lucas' shoulder and gave him a tired smile. It made his heart skip a beat and he smiled back. He continued staring at her even after she stopped and took the plate of food from her mother. His thoughts were cut in by a question.

"So, did you sleep well, Lucas?" Cory had asked.

Lucas looked up at him as he fiddled with his fork to pick up some eggs.

"Yeah, I did," he lied. Cory and Topanga gave him a knowing look. "Well, for the first night back anyways."

"Not as loud in College Station as it is in the Big Apple, uh?" Cory asked.

"No, sir," Lucas said as he took a bite of eggs. "There's plenty to do, it's not exactly a small town but it's certainly not New York."

Lucas continued a conversation with Cory about his new college life and the veterinarian program at Texas A&M. Lucas knew Cory was hardly interested in anything related to veterinarian classes but he listened to Lucas and even asked a few questions about his classes and what he was planning on doing the following semesters. Lucas enjoyed this conversation with Cory and it was the longest conversation the two had had in the Matthews' apartment without Cory screaming 'No!' and throwing Lucas out. The main reason he did that was because he was overprotective of his daughter and didn't want her in a relationship with anybody and that he knew about her feelings towards Lucas. When he would come over after school, whether it would be to work on a project or just to hang out with Riley, Cory would keep a very close eye on him. When Lucas would talk to her, she would listen and give him a look that, even then, made him feel a bit funny. In fact, Lucas looked out of the corner of his eye to where Riley was sitting and saw that she was giving him that same look now. Why was Cory okay with this? Did he finally accept the fact that his little girl was growing up and bound to move on eventually? He doubted it. Cory was like Riley; stubborn as a mule. They wouldn't change their mind on something unless they, and only they, wanted to. No convincing from any outsider would fix anything. Believe him; Lucas had tried on both of them.

Just after the four and Auggie, who had joined his family a little later, had finished their breakfast, the buzzer started going as family member after family member poured in from their various locations to open presents under the tree. Lucas could only watch along as everybody opened multiple presents from everybody except for him. He couldn't help but feel a little excluded but the love that was searing through the room was enough to keep him happy. The family was finally done opening presents at around noon and scattered around the living room into various pods and began having conversations like the night before. Lucas was about to go talk to Farkle, thinking he might tell his best buddy what happened between him and Riley last night, when he felt a tug on his hand. He turned around to see Riley smiling up at him.

"Come here," she said as she tugged on his hand and pulled him back to her room. Lucas couldn't conceal a smile as they walked under the doorway where they had shared a kiss the previous night, the mistletoe now gone. He wondered for a brief moment where it had disappeared to but was soon climbing up a flight of stairs to Riley's room. He had no idea what she wanted with him up here. As they entered, she closed the door behind them and locked it. She then walked to her window to make sure that too was locked and shut the curtains. He began to think that she was going to finish what they started last night, until she turned on a few lights in her room and looked under her bed for something.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked.

No later had he asked when Riley returned to the surface with a box wrapped in paper with lots of cowboy hats and lassos.

"It's your present," She said handing it to him.

"Gee, I never would have guessed." He said as he took the medium sized box.

"Oh, shut up," She said as she gently shoved his shoulder. "I was going to send it to you but I completely forgot and figured it would be best to do after the New Year, but you're here now so I guess it was a happy accident."

Lucas smiled as he started to unwrap the present. Finally, he reached inside the brown box to retrieve what was inside. It was a small figurine of a horse with what looked like a prince and a princess on it. His eyes widened as he looked at the intricate and expensive looking gift and remembered a conversation he had with Riley in this very room not one year ago.

 _June 5, 2020_

 _Today was the day of Lucas' high school graduation. He had just finished dressing up in a pair of nice brown loafers, khaki dress pants, a belt that matched his shoes and a baby blue collared button down when he got a text from Riley Matthews._

 _ **I need to talk to you. Come to my window as soon as you can. And don't bring anybody else.**_

 _He was a tad worried as to what this might mean. He hoped it wasn't another profession of love for him because he didn't want to be thinking about that all day and didn't want to ruin her graduation day. He knew when she did that and he said no, it ruined her whole day, sometimes her whole week._

 _Lucas left his apartment with his cap and gown after a few pictures his mom insisted on taking and headed over to Riley's apartment. Once he had climbed up the fire escape, he tapped on her window and a few seconds later, it flew open. He stepped inside to see her wearing a purple dress with sequins all over it and a pair of tan high heeled sandals that actually matched her dress pretty well._

" _Hey, what's up?" He asked as he stepped into the room._

" _Are you really going back to Texas?" She asked as she sat down by her desk. She looked sad and small._

" _Yeah," Lucas said. "I am."_

" _Well, then," she started as she brushed some of her long brown hair back with her hand. "It looks like I've failed to woo you."_

" _I'm sorry, Riley," he said. "I really am. I hate saying 'no'."_

" _Then why say it?"_

 _This was the most observant Lucas had ever seen her. Typically he would say no and then she'd say something along the lines of 'that's all right', laugh and walk away. He felt like he at least owed her an explanation._

" _Do you remember in seventh grade when you, Farkle and I all ran for class president?" He asked._

" _You ran for president," she corrected. "Farkle was a dictator and I was a princess."_

" _Yeah, that's right," Lucas said. "You were a princess. You_ are _a princess. But I'm not a prince. I'm a far cry from it. You need to find yourself a prince."_

" _Why don't you think you're a prince? Lucas, you're wonderful."_

" _I'm not looking for a princess," he said._

" _Maybe I'm not a princess anymore."_

" _But you are! It's who you are, Riley. You shouldn't change who you are for me. Maybe one day you won't be any more but right now you are. And that's great because you are doing what you want to do."_

 _Riley was silent for a long time and Lucas felt like he had crushed her even harder than he ever had. He could literally feel his heart shatter beneath him and didn't know how she couldn't have heard it._

" _You're a great friend, Riley. I don't want to lose our friendship because of a petty argument. That's why."_

 _Lucas stood up and pulled her window back open before he finally heard her speak._

" _You're wrong, you know."_

" _Am I?" He asked before she started nodding._

" _You_ are _a prince," she said as she stood up and hugged him. "To me."_

" _And to me, you're a princess."_

Present Day

"I know it's lame but it's just kind of my way of showing you that you are a prince." Riley told him. "And I'll always be a princess and we will always be friends."

Lucas didn't notice until he felt her hands around his that she had walked over from the other side of her bed to stand in front of him. He looked up at her and felt his breath hitch. He hadn't been this close to her since last night and he desperately wanted to kiss her but as she had said, she was over him now. He at least wanted to be friends and kissing is not for friends.

"You're wrong, you know." He breathed as she looked up at him, slightly startled.

"What?" She breathed back, her eyes narrowed.

"You aren't a princess." He wasn't positive but he was pretty sure he felt her breathing hitch like his had moments ago. "At least, not anymore."

"What am I?" She asked. Was it just him or was she getting closer?

"You are a queen," He said. "To me."

"And to me, you're a king."


	4. Here's to Teenage Memories

**AN: Happy Monday! This is weird but like I said I thought I'd give you guys another chapter before Friday since Royalty was only written for fluff reasons. It's hard to avoid fluff when the couple is as cute as Lucas and Riley are! Anyway, I also apologize for this super long chapter. Most of my chapters are just over 2,000 words and this one is over 3,000. I hope you guys enjoy it though!**

 **This chapter came to mind when I was listening to "Kiss Me Kiss Me" by 5 Seconds of Summer so that's where the title of this chapter comes from. There is also a reference to Cory and Topanga's relationship in Boy Meets World for those of you who are fans of both shows.**

 **I should also say I don't own Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World, 5 Seconds of Summer or the piece of art I reference in this chapter. I own this laptop from which I am writing this story but that is all.**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

Lucas and Riley had snapped out of their love induced trance only moments later. As much as they wanted to kiss the other, they knew their absence was going to be noticed downstairs. Riley had locked her door but it felt rude to be out of a gathering they were invited to and expected to be at. Once they came downstairs, they went their separate ways, Riley going over to Maya and her mother, who was having an interesting conversation with Rachel and Lucas went over to Farkle who was talking to Cory.

"Hey, Lucas," Farkle said as he walked into their conversation. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know… just hanging around." Lucas responded. Lucky for him, both men seemed to buy it.

They continued to have a conversation about college life, comparing Farkle's Boston experience with Lucas' Texas one and even Cory's Pennsylvania/ New York one. Farkle seemed to be having a good time in Boston, but he was having a difficult time choosing what science program to go into. Astronomy or Anatomy? Chemistry or Biology? Archeology or Botany? He had no idea and was at one point only seconds away from suffering from a Farkle faint. Once he made sure Farkle was okay, Cory left to go talk to Shawn, Jack and Eric who were waving him over for some reason.

"So, what do you think of the new Riley?" Farkle asked Lucas.

"I think…" Lucas trailed off before he said what he was really thinking. Amazing? Beautiful? Perfect? She was but he didn't want Farkle to think he was head over heels in love with her. Maya and Farkle had a tendency to over blow things and didn't want this answer to lead to the pair planning their wedding.

"I think she's all right."

"All right?" Farkle said, wearing a rare expression on his face. The last time this had happened, Cory had told him the answer to a question was wrong. So, yes it was rare but no, it was not good.

"Yeah, well she's definitely different." Lucas gave him that. Nobody with eyes could deny that.

"Lucas, Riley was always pretty but now, she's a babe!" Farkle exclaimed.

Lucas smiled in Riley's direction. Fortunately, she wasn't looking his way when he did. Farkle was right. Riley was a babe, in the best sense of the word. Still, he didn't want his best buddy over blowing things.

"I guess if you go for that look." Lucas said.

"You don't go for that look? You don't go for sophisticated and beautiful?"

 _Yes._ "No."

"Really?"

 _She's so beautiful._ "Nah, not really."

Farkle gave Lucas a look that didn't seem to him that he believed him. Lucas felt like he should elaborate.

"Look, I've always thought of Riley like a sister. I love her but not that way."

 _Totally that way._

"Okay," Farkle said. "I guess I'm done."

"Thank you." Lucas said to his friend as he joined another conversation and tried to look a bit peeved.

A few hours later, it was close to dinner time. Shawn, Katy, Maya, Jack and Rachel left for their apartment for Christmas dinner, Farkle had gone back to his family's place, and Cory, Topanga, Amy, Alan, Eric, Josh, Riley, Auggie and Lucas stayed at the Matthews'. Lucas tried to get a seat by Riley but he was having a conversation with her grandfather when Topanga called for them all to sit down and eat. He enjoyed talking to Alan about the camping store he recently sold, but he would have much rather spent the dinner conversing with Riley and gently poking each other under the table for fun. Riley was sitting on the other side of the table, as far from Lucas as she could possibly be, by her Uncle Eric. A few minutes into their meal, Alan had started a different conversation with Topanga and Lucas began to eat his food, gobbling it up in about five minutes. He couldn't help but notice Riley was eating particularly fast too. Soon she was done with her meal and had excused herself to go to her room. Only a few minutes after that, Lucas' phone started to buzz. He reached into his pocket to see he had one text message from Riley Matthews.

 **Tell them you have to go to the bathroom and come to my room.**

Lucas wasn't sure what he was going to get himself into but it seemed like a good opportunity to get some time with Riley. Just about everybody was returning to their hometowns either the same day or after he had to go back to Texas on the 28th. He did as he was told and went up to her room. He knocked on her closed door and she opened it, pulling him in as if there was a bomb where he was standing and shutting it.

"Riley, what's going on?" He asked.

"Do you want to get out of here?" She asked.

"What?"

"Oh, come on! I'm so bored! Just talking to my family! I see them all the time! I want to get out! Come with me!"

As much as Lucas did want to be reckless and leave with her, he felt like it might be rude to leave a gathering he wasn't even invited to.

"Wouldn't it be rude leaving?" Lucas asked.

"They wouldn't have to know we left!" Riley said. "I stay up here studying all the time and I can send a text to my mom that we are both studying up here and lock the door. She won't interrupt us."

"What about your dad?" Lucas asked, doubtfully.

"He wouldn't cause a scene around family." Riley said knowingly.

"All right, fine," Lucas caved. "I suppose I can do with a night in the city on Christmas."

"No!" Riley said, immediately. "I mean… it's going to be really crowded everywhere. It's Christmas! Let's go somewhere out of town."

"Can we get a taxi to take us that far?" Lucas asked.

"We don't need a taxi," Riley said as she held up a pair of car keys. "We can take my dad's car. I'm a good driver, I promise."

Lucas chuckled at this irony. All his life he thought if he was going to rebel with Riley, he would be the one to convince her to do something crazy, not the other way around. But it really did sound great.

"Okay, fine," Lucas said. "Where to?"

"Oh, I've got some places in mind, Texas boy," Riley said as she popped open her window and crawled out and down the fire escape as Lucas followed.

The two snuck out to the parking garage and took Cory's family minivan, but not before Riley shot a text to her mother telling her she and Lucas were studying and not to be interrupted. It took forever to get out of the crazy New York traffic that was twice as busy as usual with tourists flooding the city for Christmas. Lucas couldn't deny that he was having an excellent time here, much better than he would have at Riley's apartment. He was a bit aggravated when they were stuck in dead lock traffic but soon they were out in the open countryside of New York, blasting the radio loud and just having a good time, like friends do.

About an hour later, they entered a small town and Riley pulled into the parking lot of a large one story building. As they got out, Lucas found that they were at an art museum.

"So we sneak out of your parent's house to go to an art museum? Very rebellious, Matthews." Lucas told her.

"I'm not trying to be rebellious," Riley told him with a warm smile on her face. "I'm trying to have a good time with you. I thought this would be fun."

"No, yeah. It will be. It sounds great!" Lucas said as they began to walk up the steps to the museum.

Since it was Christmas Day, the museum was offering free admission to everybody. Riley and Lucas began looking around at all the amazing sculptures, paintings and photographs. They had several famous pieces of work like The Starry Night and American Gothic but Riley quietly explained nothing recognizable was real. There was some original work from local artists that looked great but Riley and Lucas felt themselves drawn to the ones that were well known. Those pieces of work were from a different time and a different place that they had never been to before. In some cases, the only other way they could go to those places were if they read a book about that particular era. They both knew modern day New York pretty well and had come here to escape that.

Lucas came across one piece of art by a local artist that he actually really liked. It was a painting of the New York skyline but with warm reds, oranges, yellows and browns instead the cool blues, greens, purples and black. He probably liked it most because it was a bit rustic and western and reminded him of Texas but in New York and those were his two favorite places on earth.

"Hey, Riley, you have to come see this…"

Lucas looked to where Riley was, about thirty feet away from him, to see her staring wide eyed at another piece of art. It was clear to Lucas, whatever the piece was, Riley wasn't moving. He walked over to stand beside her. He wasn't surprised to see it was a photograph. Riley had a soft spot for photography since Shawn had given her that camera at the end of seventh grade. She loved taking pictures and had always been an excellent photographer.

The photograph Riley was staring at looked a bit old and, although you couldn't see any scenery, Lucas could tell it was taken in the west somewhere. The main focus of the picture was on a woman. She was pretty but in a subtle kind of way. She had her hand under her chin and was looking away from the camera. There were two children on either side of her who looked like they were crying. Lucas looked at the plate under the photograph to see the name of the piece.

 _Migrant Mother_

Lucas then shifted his eyes to just a few inches away from the plate to his and Riley's hands, only centimeters from each other. Should he hold her hand? Would she be mad at him? Friends can hold hands, right? He figured he didn't have anything to lose and grabbed her hand, intertwining her fingers with his.

Riley looked down at their joined hands and smiled. Lucas swore he felt his heart skip a beat as she did. What was this girl doing to him?

"Hi," he finally managed to breathe out. He really wanted to play it safe and their normal exchange was the safest thing he could think of.

"Hey," Riley responded, looking up into his eyes. The pair just stayed there for a bit, completely silent. It wasn't awkward at all but extremely comfortable. He loved feeling her hand in his and seeing her staring at him with those big chocolate brown eyes. She looked rather happy about it too. All too soon, Riley began to blink rapidly and turned back to the photograph.

"What do you think of this piece?" She asked, not letting go of his hand.

"Well, it's very dark." Lucas responded immediately. "And I was hoping tonight was going to be rather lively. It is Christmas Day, you know."

"I know," Riley said. "But I always want to hear your opinions."

"Really?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," She responded. "You're smart and you have a unique perspective on things. So what do you think?"

Lucas let out a deep breath before he answered her. "I think it's very sad. I mean, I'm assuming the lady in the picture is the mother and those are her children." He pointed to the woman and the kids as he explained. "The children look upset and so does the mother and it doesn't look like they have very much. Don't get me wrong, it's a great picture but why are you so infatuated by it?"

"Because I think it's hopeful." Riley answered.

"Hopeful?"

"Yeah," She said. "I mean they don't have much in the picture and it's hard but life is hard. The children don't see hope because it's hard for kids that young to know what hope is but the mother, you can see it in her eyes. She has hope. I think hope looks good on people."

Lucas was surprised by Riley's answer. He hadn't quite expected that. It wasn't until she explained it like that did he realize that she was right. They were both right. Yes, in the moment it looked devastating but the woman looked like a heavy weight had just been lifted. Lucas couldn't deny that he felt like Riley's innocence had gone or faded significantly since he had last seen her but that was one thing about her that hadn't changed. It was still there.

Lucas showed Riley the piece he had been staring at and she thought it was wonderful, especially after he explained why he loved it. They wandered around the museum for about another half hour before a security guard informed them they were closing soon. Sadly, Riley and Lucas made their way back to the car. As soon as they had climbed in, Lucas was the first to speak.

"I had a great time, Riley, but I wish it wouldn't have ended." Lucas told her.

Riley looked at him with a devilish smile on her face.

"It doesn't have to. I know another place out here and its open all night."

"Well, I'm up for it if you are."

Riley nodded eagerly. She sent a quick text to somebody before she turned on the car. They drove for about another twenty minutes when they came across a field with several other cars parked on the grass. Riley found a semi-secluded spot to park the car. She pressed a button that opened up the sky roof in the car and jumped to the back seat. She shifted the back of the seat all the way down so it looked more like a bed than a car seat and pulled out some blankets and pillows from the trunk.

"I told my mom that I was spending the night at Maya's and you at Farkle's." Riley told him. "We can leave any time you want but I figured that could give us until whenever to get back home."

She tossed him a blanket as she rolled the windows down so a sliver of air was coming through the car.

"Something tells me you had this planned all along." Lucas told her as he raised an eyebrow. At this point, he didn't at all mind if she had.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Friar," Riley told him. "I was not planning on taking you out here tonight."

"Then why do you have the blankets and the pillows?" He accused.

"We only take this car anywhere when we leave town." Riley explained. "Sometimes we leave early in the morning or late at night so Auggie and I get tired and want to sleep. The pillows and blankets make it a little more comfortable."

Lucas shrugged as he decided to play along. "Okay, I'll let you off easy this time, Matthews."

"Oh, well, thank you, kind sir," she responded sarcastically.

"No problem, ma'am," He said as he tipped an imaginary cowboy hat.

They got situated with all the pillows and blankets and laid down on the seat. It wasn't until then, Lucas realized why Riley took him here. The stars in the sky were as bright as he had ever seen in New York. In the city, you could see little flickers of stars here and there but it was difficult to catch it. Out here, in the open, you could see thousands of stars in the air and even what looked like purple, galactic clouds surrounding groups of stars in the sky.

"This is beautiful, Riley," Lucas said, his eyes locked on the night sky.

"Y-yeah," Riley agreed.

Lucas looked over to see Riley was shivering. She had her blanket all the way up to her mouth and wrapped around her body but he supposed she was still cold.

"Are you cold?" He asked.

"A little, I'll be fine though,"

Instead of volunteering to go home, turning the car back on for a minute to heat it up a bit or anything else that might have made a little more sense, Lucas pulled her into his side hoping his body heat would help make her warm. He realized about a split second later that this may not have been the best thing to do with his plutonic friend.

"Is-is this okay?" He asked.

She had stopped shaking but he couldn't tell if she was getting warmer or because she was shocked he made such a bold move.

"This is perfect." She said as she snuggled further into his chest.

Lucas smiled as he continued gazing up at the stars in the sky. He smiled because everything around him was beautiful. The outdoors, the brilliant stars in the sky and Riley. He had never been happier in one spot, even though the arm that was around her was starting to fall asleep. She had an arm around his torso and even though she was the one shivering, he couldn't deny he was a tad cold as well and her body heat was making up for it.

Soon, he felt Riley's breathing start to slow and he knew she was starting to fall asleep. He could tell he was going to cave soon too so he pulled her a little closer to him, kissed her forehead like the night before and bid her majesty good night.

"Good night, my queen."


	5. Boyfriend

**AN: Hello again! I'm kind of abandoning this whole only publishing on Fridays thing cause this story and your reactions to it have gotten me too excited! I'm not going to post everyday but I wanted to give you guys another chapter because I'm going to be super busy for the next few days so I might not update for a little while. And by a little while I mean like a couple of days.**

 **So I'm not sure if fields like that actually exist. I know there are campgrounds and stuff but I'm not sure if they let you park a car there or anything. I doubt it but it sounds really romantic so for the sake of this story, they are real.**

 **Follow, review and rate!**

* * *

Lucas woke up with the sun the next morning. He felt a piercing pain in his right arm and went to stretch when he felt something stopping him.

Lucas smiled down at the girl lying on his chest. Her mouth was slightly open, emitting soft snores. Both blankets were on top of her and pulled up to her nose. She looked very peaceful and, as expected, extremely beautiful.

Lucas kissed her forehead again and continued to gaze at Riley, immersed in his own thoughts. She really was everything he was looking for in a woman and then some. Lucas was only nineteen so he wasn't exactly searching for his soulmate but he could see himself having a long future with Riley. He could see them moving in together after college, maybe in New York, maybe in Texas, maybe somewhere completely different. He could see her walking down a long aisle on the arm of her father in the most beautiful white dress he had ever seen carrying a bouquet of white roses and a sparkling diamond ring on her finger. He could see them staying up night after night with a baby who made them sleep deprived but loved more than anything in the world.

There was only one problem. Riley had made it pretty clear to him Christmas Eve that they should just be friends. Lucas could never have predicted that. He thought that she would be the one sneaking into his apartment he shared with his girlfriend, not the girlfriend. He thought she would be the one who would stand when the preacher said 'any objections?', not the one standing next to him. He thought she would spiral into a tunnel of depression when he had kids with the woman of his dreams, not become the woman of his dreams.

Why? Why on earth would Riley suddenly give all of that up? He knew she felt strongly about him. He had been her friend since seventh grade and could tell when she was hiding something or when she was faking. When she would say 'I'm in love with you, Lucas' he knew it was real. She was passionate about them. She was also passionate about her friendship with him, Maya and Farkle. Maybe now she understood what he was afraid of in high school.

But Lucas wasn't his high school self anymore. He had changed quite a bit since he started college. Yes, he was still worried about possibly losing his friendship with Riley if they did start a relationship and broke up but he was now more worried about missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime. It was a bit like skydiving. He was terrified to do it but all his friends who had worked up the courage to do it had said it was brilliant and worth the risk.

Even if he and Riley weren't the next Cory and Topanga, they still cared about each other, even as friends. He couldn't imagine how that care would blossom if they were more than that. Besides, if they did try to date and it didn't work, Riley could take everything away from him but she couldn't take the memories they had together.

That was exactly what his mother had told him when she divorced Lucas' father and moved to New York. The divorce hadn't been pretty and his parents hardly talk at all anymore, really only when it is something to do with Lucas himself. He remembered asking his mother while they were unpacking why she married that creep. His mama had said they may not get along now but she would do it all over again if she could.

Of course Lucas didn't want to spilt up with Riley but he wanted more memories with her. They had their memories as friends like when they stood up to Farkle's bully Billy or when they both ran for class president but Lucas wanted more moments like how he felt under the mistletoe and moments like right now. He mentally kicked himself again for not realizing how he felt sooner.

After hours of lying awake, thinking all of this through, Lucas had come to a conclusion. He was going to risk it. He was going to risk everything to be with her. Sure, it would be long distance but some couples made that work. It was easier now in the world of technology to stay in touch. However, if that wasn't enough, Lucas would transfer. NYU had a good veterinarian program and that school was Lucas' back up plan if he wasn't accepted into Texas A&M. He would do anything for her and he wanted her to be his. He wanted Riley Matthews to be his girlfriend.

He figured he would really only have one chance at this. He didn't want to screw it up and he wanted it to be something that would absolutely sweep her off her feet. Every girl had their dream way of being asked out, he just didn't know what Riley's was. She probably told Maya. He could ask her and Farkle later today! If he was going to ask her out and she did say yes, or maybe even if she didn't, they were going to find out one way or another.

Riley slowly started to bury his face further into his chest as she smiled. She also started to gently blink her eyes open.

"Good morning, beautiful." Lucas said.

Riley smiled up at him and muttered a 'morning' before letting out a yawn.

"Have you been awake for long?" She asked.

"No, only a few minutes." Lucas replied. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I did," Riley said. "You?"

"Like a baby."

They stayed where they were for a few minutes before Riley mentioned they should probably leave soon. It more than likely wasn't any earlier than seven o'clock but it wouldn't do them any good to have Maya and/ or Farkle beat them to the Matthews' residence and have no idea what they were talking about having Riley and Lucas sleeping over at their places.

"My dad would lose it if he knew I spent the night with you." Riley said.

"What do you call all those times in high school when I showed up at your apartment after seven?" Lucas asked as he helped Riley push the back seat up and move the pillows and blankets to the trunk.

"I call it level three mad. You and I spending the night together is level ten mad." She told him.

"Oh, that's bad." Lucas said as Riley chuckled.

In no time they were back on the road. They didn't seem to have much to talk about. Lucas wanted to tell her how pretty she is and how last night was one of the best of his life but he didn't want to ruin his surprise. He figured she probably already knew because she typically saw right through him but he didn't want to confirm her suspicions. Instead, they drove back to New York listening to public radio. About an hour later, they had reached Greenwich Village.

"Okay, I'm going to go inside and you can buzz in about ten minutes later. Is that cool?" Riley told him and asked. If Lucas didn't know any better, he would have said she had done this before.

"That's cool." Lucas agreed as he stood by the speaker box and watched Riley use her key to get inside and saunter into the elevator.

Lucas had planned on waiting the full ten minutes, but not five minutes after Riley went into the elevator, Farkle had come into the building.

"Farkle!" Lucas exclaimed. Farkle looked slightly frazzled since Lucas was in a dark and secluded corner before.

"Oh, hey Lucas," Farkle said once he realized he wasn't in any kind of danger. "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, man do I have a lot to tell you." Lucas said. Farkle gave him a nod to continue.

"I think I'm going to ask Riley out."

"Why the sudden change in mind?" Farkle asked. Lucas had expected him to say something along the lines of 'that's great' but he was too excited so he ignored it.

"I lied to you," Lucas started. "I really do like Riley. She's smart and beautiful and just… she's everything."

"Lucas?"

"Christmas Eve she and I ate Santa's cookies and milk and then shared a kiss under the mistletoe you and Maya put up there earlier. It was heated, it was passionate, and it was the best kiss I have ever had, Farkle. Ever!"

"Lucas?"

"And then she gave me this figurine of a horse with a prince and a princess on it to symbolize our friendship for Christmas. It's a long story but I'll tell you later, buddy. She was the only one who got me a present!"

"Lucas?"

"Last night she texted me during dinner to come to her room and we snuck out and went to an art museum out of town and then she took me to this field and we looked at the stars and fell asleep with each other. Oh and I spent the night at your place if anybody asks, okay? And I just know-"

"Lucas?!"

"What?! What?" Lucas demanded. He had heard Farkle trying to interrupt him before but couldn't his best buddy see that he was pouring his heart and soul out to him? All his feelings he realized he had for Riley? Isn't this what he and Maya have wanted since high school? What was it? Couldn't he tell that Lucas was trying to tell him he wanted to be Riley's…

"…boyfriend."

Whoa. Did Farkle just finish his thoughts? That's some next level Riley and Maya friendship right there. They were the only other people he knew could do that. They were the only people in the universe that could do that. No, Farkle must have said something but what was it?

"What did you say?" Lucas asked.

Farkle let out a deep sigh before he repeated himself.

"Riley already has a boyfriend."


	6. Revealing Plans & Breaking Hearts

**AN: Oooooo things are about to get real interesting! I'm sorry if last chapter made you want to kill me. Yes, Riley has a boyfriend and we are going to meet him soon, but not this chapter.**

 **This chapter is the angstiest so far and does contain a wee bit of swearing. If you hated my last chapter, you're really going to hate this one. Once again, I'm sorry.**

 **Also shout out to ChordOverstreetFan for guessing this was going to happen during Chapter 1! I'm sure a few more guessed it but they were the first to comment so yeah.**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

" _Riley already has a boyfriend."_

Lucas could not believe the words that came out of his best friend's mouth. Riley has a boyfriend? The person he may supposed to be with has a boyfriend? That certainly answered a lot of questions Lucas had been asking since he arrived in New York. Cory was nice to him because he knew Riley was over him. Whoever this guy was, he was probably this saint with the brain of Albert Einstein and a face carved by angels. He had probably even charmed Cory into liking him even though he was going to take Riley away from him one day. Something Lucas had failed to do.

It explained why Maya and Farkle wanted him to come here for the break. They wanted to rub it in his face that he had missed out on her. They wanted to get him all hot for her and then break the news. He had been friends with Maya and Farkle since seventh grade but they had been friends with Riley since kindergarten. They probably didn't want to see one of their friends drown but he knew if they weren't given a choice, they would have to sacrifice Lucas.

It explained why Riley wanted to get over him. She probably was over him already. She had to be if she was dating somebody else. He knew it was selfish because he didn't show any remote interest towards her back in high school but he was interested now. He really liked her. So much so it scared him. He had never felt so strongly about a girl and these feelings had only aroused two days ago.

One moment, Lucas was standing out in the hallway with Farkle, his mouth dangling wide open and tears forming in his eyes. The next, he was in Riley's room on her window sill with Maya and Farkle. Maya speaking was enough to pull him back into reality.

"Lucas-"

"How could you not tell me?!" Lucas exclaimed standing up so he towered over his two friends. "This couldn't have been mentioned in just one of the texts or phone calls we had leading up to this?! It's not that hard to add. Not like it's so long you're going to have to break your fingers or lose your voice explaining it. That's all! Oh by the way, Riley has a boyfriend. See I just did it! It's not hard."

"It's not that we couldn't tell you," Maya started.

"We need your help." Farkle finished.

"What?" Lucas asked a little calmer now.

"This guy's a creep." Maya said. "This guy couldn't even spit on Charlie's shoes."

Lucas thought back to the gang's sophomore year of high school. A new guy named Charlie had moved to New York from Tennessee. He was almost a carbon copy of Lucas except he did things Lucas would never do to any girl. Once he started going out with Riley, he would yell at her, push her and even cheat on her. What confounded Lucas and the rest of the group was that Riley put up with it. She would just say things like 'he's had a bad day' or 'he tripped and fell on her lips'. They were dumb excuses but luckily Riley found the strength to break up with him after about six months together. If this new guy was that bad, Lucas wasn't quite sure he wanted to meet him. He wasn't afraid of the guy but rather what he might do to him.

"Okay," Lucas said. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Riley has liked you more than anybody else." Maya explained. "Turn on the cowboy charm. Make her like you so she'll break up with the new guy."

"Maya, I'm not going to make Riley like me." Lucas said. "I can't and even if I could I'd probably just hurt her feelings again which I'm sick and tired of doing."

"I thought you said you were going to ask her out?" Farkle asked.

"I was," Lucas said as he tried to come up with an excuse. "But I just realized it wouldn't be fair to her if we did. We live over two thousand miles apart!"

Maya and Farkle seemed to see right through him when he said this. He knew he was wrong and wanted more than anything to break Riley up with this creep but it was selfish of him to do. She's eighteen now. That's a legal adult in the state of New York. She lives by herself. She can make her own decisions without his help. Maya stepped up first.

"Lucas, Riley is my best friend in the whole world," she said. "I don't like to see her get hurt. I know I can't protect her from everything but I'm afraid she might be in too deep this time. I've tried talking to her. Farkle's tried talking to her. We haven't gotten anywhere. You're our last hope."

Maya was nearly in tears by the end of her speech. Lucas knew Riley and Maya were as close as any two platonic girls could be. He understood that she didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want her to get hurt either but what could he do? She didn't like him anymore. It was over. Whoever this guy was had won and he didn't even know there was a war brewing.

"Maybe you're right," Lucas said. "Maybe she is in too deep this time."

Lucas then left the room before either of them could get a word in. He didn't want to argue with them anymore. He knew their intentions were good and they were just trying to help a friend but he didn't know what he could do. He tried telling them that but they didn't listen. He wished he had less stubborn friends. He would always help Riley or Maya or Farkle to the best of his ability but there were certain situations he couldn't get them out of. In Riley's case, this was one of them. She had made her bed and now she had to lay in it.

Lucas sauntered downstairs where a majority of the Matthews' family was. He spent the day talking to anybody and everybody except Riley. He didn't even steal glances at her anymore. He didn't want to look at her because she had used him. She had treated him like a piece of meat and he didn't like that. He also did his best to avoid Maya and Farkle. Every now and again they would sneak up behind him when he wasn't talking to somebody or moving to talk to somebody else and whisper something along the lines of 'please' in his ear. He knew what they wanted but he couldn't give in.

It was around five o'clock that Riley had enough of Lucas avoiding her. She walked over to him as he was getting some more punch, snatched his wrist and dragged him back to her room. She locked the door behind them like she had done the previous day. Lucas stood in front of her with a stoic expression on his face as he took a sip of his punch.

"What is with you?" Riley asked very accusingly.

"Nothing," Lucas said nonchalantly. "What is with you?"

"Me? I haven't done anything all day! I keep looking to you when you're in conversations with other people trying to get your attention! It was working yesterday, why not today?"

"Trying to get my attention…" Lucas thought out loud. "Oh, are you flirting with me?" She didn't have to respond to get an answer. "Oh, Riley how many times do I have to tell you I'm not interested?"

Riley was dumbfounded and Lucas knew that was the wrong thing to say the second it came out of his mouth. He wished he could take it back but it was out in the open now.

"You're… you're not interested… you're not interested?" Riley asked as tears started to form in her eyes. "Then… then what the hell was that under the mistletoe, huh? Or last night? You did all of that because you're not interested?!"

"Well, I was," Lucas explained still trying to maintain his stoic stance. "But then I learned something about you that is kind of an issue for me."

"What's that?"

"Oh, I don't know that you have a boyfriend!" Lucas exclaimed finally breaking his cool.

"I… who told you?" Riley asked.

"Maya and Farkle." Lucas responded. "That was the whole reason I came here. They kept badgering me and begging me to come."

Riley let out an aggravated grunt. "That is just like them."

Lucas figured, for Maya and Farkle's sake maybe he should try to talk her out of this. This guy did sound pretty terrible.

"I don't know, Riley. They made him sound pretty bad."

"Okay, who are you to say that? You've never even met him! And Maya and Farkle don't know him like I do! He can be really caring when he wants to be! He's fantastic! And he would never lead me on if he wasn't interested."

The last bit hit Lucas right in the heart. Yes, Riley had planned all these adventures they had had the past few days but he could have stopped it. He could have said no to the mistletoe and insisted they stay home for the night rather than leave. But also, they had been all Riley's ideas.

"These things that we have done the past few days have all been your ideas, not mine. Not even one of them was mine!"

"You agreed to it!"

"Fine, I agreed to it. Send me straight to the bottom lair of hell! But Riley I never, _never_ , would have come up with those ideas on my own. I never would have tried to seduce you without your permission. You used me. I don't know why but you did."

Lucas took a deep breath before he thought about what he was going to say next. He didn't want to but he couldn't do this anymore.

"I can't trust you anymore." Lucas said. "You've changed. I thought it was for the better but it's not. I don't like this Riley but more importantly, I can't trust this Riley and I have to be able to trust my friends."

Riley looked up at him with big puffy eyes. Tears where running down her cheeks and her nose was beginning to become stuffed up. She knew exactly where this was going and she didn't like it at all. She didn't like it in the least bit.

"No, Lucas," Riley whispered. "No, no, no. I am your friend! You can trust me! I'm sorry."

Riley had walked up to him and started rubbing her hands on his chest. He really enjoyed it but he had to walk away with some dignity.

"No, no. Riley, stop!" He said as he shoved her away, gently but hard enough to get his point across. "There you go again! I don't want to have that kind of relationship with you unless I'm going to be your boyfriend. Your _only_ boyfriend. And I think the past couple of days we pushed it too far."

Lucas took another deep sigh as he himself felt tears start to prick at his eyes. His voice was getting croaky too and he didn't like where this was going at all.

"We can't be friends."

That was the breaking point for Riley. She slowly fell down her chair as she let the tears flow. She was openly sobbing in front of him. He had seen her cry before but never sob or weep or anything like this. He wanted to hug her and hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right but that type of comfort was for friends and he and Riley weren't friends.

He wanted to curl up in a ball right next to her and cry his eyes out too. He had just lost one of the best friends he had ever had. He was convinced it was the right move but lately he had been doubting his decisions concerning Riley. Everything he had thought about her since they met were disproved in the matter of two days. He thought she was unattractive, now she was attractive. He thought she wasn't the girl of his dreams, now she was the girl of his dreams. He thought he could trust her, but now he could never tell her another secret again.

Including one of his deepest, darkest secrets; despite the fact that she had used him and played him, he was still in love with her.


	7. Not Everybody's Cory & Topanga

**AN: So if you are hoping for things to get better in this chapter… it's not going to happen. This chapter will contain some violence so if you don't like that I'm sorry. Just warning you now.**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

Lucas left Riley's room wanting to cry his eyes out as well but not knowing exactly where to do it. He really didn't want to not be her friend. He loved her and always had since probably their eighth grade year. When any sight of negativity crossed her features it would hurt Lucas, even if he wasn't the source of her pain. What he had done to her in her room had killed him. How he was still walking and living with a functioning heart he did not know. But that was just it. Lucas' heart wasn't normal or functioning. It was shattered into a million pieces. He never thought Riley Matthews would be the one to cause him this pain.

Lucas wasn't surprised to see Maya and Farkle lurking outside of Riley's room when he finally exited. They each gave him sympathetic looks then Maya dashed into Riley's room to comfort her best friend while Lucas was left out in the hall with his. He hoped Farkle would comfort him too. He really needed it, probably as much as Riley did. Lucas took a few paces before stopping, leaning against the wall, and sliding down until he was sitting on the ground. Farkle joined him only seconds later but didn't speak because for once in his life, Farkle Minkus didn't know what to say to make this better.

"I-I can't believe I just did that." Lucas said with a strained and croaky voice. He also felt a tear run down his left eye. He would have lifted his hand up to wipe it away but he didn't see any use. It was just him and Farkle and he wasn't afraid to show emotion in front of his best friends, except anger.

"Why did you do it?" Farkle asked. He knew this probably isn't what Lucas wanted to hear but he had no idea what else to say.

"I don't know," Lucas responded. "What the hell am I talking about we can't be friends? She hid one boyfriend from me I hid tons of girlfriends from her. But I never tried to seduce her, either."

"Are you sure you didn't misinterpret things?" Farkle asked.

"What do you mean?" Lucas said looking him in the eye for the first time since this conversation had started.

"Well, one time earlier in the year, I came home for the weekend. I met up with Maya at Topanaga's and she said that Riley was sick and she wouldn't be coming. She started asking me questions about how a man should treat a woman and I thought she was finally falling for the Farkle charm. Turns out she was just asking about Dylan."

"Dylan?"

"Riley's boyfriend."

Lucas nodded in understanding but not quite wanting to talk about that guy yet. He wanted to focus on his own problems first. Did he misinterpret things? Riley's kiss under the mistletoe was her way of getting over him, not trying to start anything new. She had invited him to go to the art museum but he had been the one who said he didn't want the night to end, she only agreed to his advances. He understood why she gave in. Even now, he was pretty sure if Missy Bradford asked to spend a night with him, he couldn't say no. Maybe he had misinterpreted everything Riley had said to him since he arrived back in New York. All of this did nothing to change the fact that he still had feelings for her.

"I still like her, Farkle." Lucas said. "I like her a lot."

"I know." Farkle responded. "I wouldn't think you'd be this upset if you didn't."

"Do you know what sucks about this whole thing the most?" Lucas asked.

"What's that?"

"I could have had her." Lucas sighed as he rested his head in his right hand. "I could have had her since… since middle school. We could have been like her parents. We could have been engaged right now."

"Whoa, you want to get engaged? Slow down, buddy. I still need time to let Riley down easy."

Lucas let out a half chuckle at his friend. It didn't matter what happened to him, Lucas' friends could always make him feel better.

"No, I'm not ready to get engaged. Not now but if we had been together since middle school or even freshman year of high school, who knows what could have happened." Lucas responded.

"Well, you still have the present. Not everybody's Cory and Topanga or Romeo and Juliet. Not everybody knows who they are going to spend the rest of their life with when they are thirteen and not everybody's going to get married the second they can. Just because you have to wait for Riley or go through a few arguments with her doesn't mean you're not going to end up together. It just means you have differences but what couple doesn't?"

Lucas sighed as the two friends remained in silence for the next few moments. Lucas had been debating if breaking his friendship with Riley was really the best idea. He had made a mental list of the pros and cons of not being friends with Riley and the cons heavily outweighed the pros. In fact, there were no real pros on the list. Lucas had made a mistake. A big mistake at that and he was now hell bent on doing everything he could to remedy that.

Only a few seconds later, the door to Riley's room had opened and Maya Hart had stepped out. She didn't look very happy but neither man expected her to be.

"How's Riley?" Lucas asked stepping up first. "Is she going to be okay?"

Maya didn't say a word. Lucas figured she was giving him the silent treatment for being such a jerk to her best friend. Lucas couldn't blame her for being upset. He would be upset if somebody had picked on Farkle too. In fact, that did happen in seventh grade and that was as close as any of his friends had ever seen him to his old self.

Lucas sighed. "Can I talk to her, please?"

"She's gone," Maya said quietly.

"What?" Farkle asked before Lucas could get the word out.

"She's gone," Maya repeated. She inhaled a deep, shaky breath. "She texted Dylan to come meet her by their special place, which I still don't know where that is, and she left."

Lucas didn't like this one bit. The fact that Riley actually ran away from a problem was rare. Riley was always the type of person to face up to a problem and go at it stubbornly until it was no longer a problem. Her argument with Lucas was a problem and it was the first time he had ever seen her run away from any problem she had ever had. It upset him that he had caused this problem but it worried him so much more than anything.

* * *

Later that night, everybody had left the Matthews' apartment again. Cory and Topanga had asked repeatedly where Riley was to Lucas, Maya and Farkle but they couldn't give an answer if they wanted to. Lucas wanted to say that she was with Dylan but he didn't know how Riley's parents felt about him. They could love him for all he knew and him tattling on her would be no use.

Lucas started to get worried about Riley. It was eight o'clock and he had never known her to stay out past 7:30. Farkle and Maya were both gone before ten o'clock came around and told Lucas to text them when Riley came home. Then it was eleven o'clock and Lucas was awake with Cory watching late night television both waiting for Riley to get home.

"So, Mr. Friar," Cory started. "Are you doing all right?"

"Yes, sir," Lucas said. Based on the look he received from Cory he wasn't very believable. "Riley and I had a bit of an argument." There was no use at hiding it.

"Really?" Cory asked. "Do you mind if I ask what it was about?"

Lucas felt like he should answer him. Cory was more of a father to him than his own dad. He could always help him out with his problems and had a unique and fun way of doing it. He didn't want to get too intimate though. As much as he thought it was funny when Cory would shout "No!" and through him outside the apartment, Lucas didn't really have anywhere else to stay. Farkle's family had just arrived tonight and were taking up every inch of his parents' massive apartment. He figured he should answer Cory but keep it as vague as possible.

"She lead me to believe something about her that wasn't true and I got upset and ended our friendship." Lucas said.

"Huh," Cory said, less upset than Lucas figured he would be. "Was it really worth ending an seven year friendship?"

"I thought it was but now I don't think so." Lucas responded.

There was a moment of silence before Lucas finally broke and asked Cory a question he'd been dying to know the answer to all day.

"So what do you think of this Dylan guy, Mr. Matthews?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, you mean Riley's boyfriend?" Cory asked with a knowing smile. "Yeah, he's junk."

Lucas was flabbergasted at Cory's response. He didn't like Dylan? Why on earth was he letting Riley date him? Lucas didn't understand any of this at all.

"Then why let her date him?" Lucas asked.

"Well, Topanga and I have tried to tell her no but Riley's stubborn, you know that." Lucas nodded at Cory knowingly. "And she's not under our roof anymore. I can't control her life as much as I used to.

"You know," Cory continued. "I've come to terms with Riley dating now."

"You have?" Lucas asked with a small smile on his face.

"Yes." Cory said. "She's eighteen years old. It was bound to happen sometime. I just hope that she sees this Dylan for the creep he really is eventually and dumps him."

"Me too," Lucas mumbled.

"That's why I've been more open to you." Cory said. "Or at least trying to be. It's hard to change your mindset. But I like you, Lucas."

"Thanks, Mr. Matthews." Lucas said.

"I think I'm going to hit the hay, as you would say back in Texas." Cory said before standing up and heading back to his room.

It was now one o'clock and no Riley. Lucas was very concerned now. Not even he would stay out this late. He doubted Maya, the most rebellious of the group, would be out at this hour. Especially since Riley is a lowly young girl in the big city of New York with creeps and criminals just waiting for somebody like her to fall right into their thieving laps.

Two o'clock came by and Lucas was becoming exhausted. The only things on TV this time of night were infomercials and pornos and Lucas would never be caught dead watching either of those things. There wasn't much to keep him up. He tried watching videos on his phone or reading but that got boring too.

At 2:30, Lucas decided he was going to brew a pot of coffee so he could stay up a bit longer. He was going to need it if he only needed to stay up another minute. It turned out he didn't even need a second because not a moment after he thought about this did the front door knob turn and Riley Matthews walked inside. He couldn't see her very well because it was quite dark where she was standing but he could make out her silhouette and it was enough to tell that it was her.

"Riley," Lucas said from his position on the couch.

Riley jumped in surprise. "Lucas, you scared me!" She exclaimed.

"And you scared me. Where have you been?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, just hanging out with somebody who cares about me." She responded, her voice oozing with sarcasm.

"Riley, I'm so sorry. I made a huge mistake telling you I didn't want to be friends. That was very wrong of me. I don't expect you to forgive me right now but I hope we can be friends again."

"No, I don't think so." Riley told him.

"Come on, Riley." Lucas said as he stepped closer to her. She immediately moved away. "It's me. I'm Ranger Rick. We kissed under the mistletoe. We spent the night under the stars. We are a king and a queen. You know me. You can trust me."

Lucas tried to move closer to her again but she swiftly moved to the other side of the apartment. What was she doing? Was she hiding something?

"Riley, what's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing's wrong. Now could you please leave me alone?" She asked.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." He said as he tried to pounce at her again.

"Nothing's wrong!" She exclaimed as she moved away from him again. Through her silhouette, Lucas could tell she was covering a part of her face. Was she hiding something on her face? Lucas figured he'd beat her at her own game. He pounced one more time so he was by the dining room and Riley by the door. He turned on a big light by the dining room and Riley's other hand flew up to her face. Lucas slowly crossed the room until he was a few feet from her. She didn't move and suddenly looked completely vulnerable. He gently lifted her hands off her face and Lucas could instantly tell why she didn't want him to see her.

Riley's right side of her face was completely purple. She had one hell of a black eye. Lucas knew exactly where this came from and his blood boiled with anger and rage as he stared at her once perfectly innocent skin that was now one of the ugliest things he had seen.

"Did he do this to you?" Lucas asked through gritted teeth.

"No," Riley said as if it were obvious. "I just ran into a street lamp."

That was one of the lamest excuses Riley had ever come up with. Lucas didn't believe it for a second.

"Okay, he might have thrown a punch or two but he's stressed and has other things to worry about than me." Riley told him.

"I'll be fine, okay? I know a remedy that can get rid of this."

Riley started to walk to the kitchen but Lucas jumped in front of her so she couldn't get to the refrigerator.

"Lucas! Move!" Riley exclaimed.

"No." Lucas said. "I don't care how busy or how stressed anybody is. They don't take it out on somebody else, especially you!"

"I'm a big girl! I can take care of myself!"

"Clearly not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means if you had a shred of common sense you would have dumped this guy a long time ago."

"Lucas, you don't even know him! He's a sweet guy when he wants to be! He has his flaws, yes, but who doesn't?"

Lucas sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with her. At least not tonight.

"Okay, fine." Lucas said. "I'll let you get the stuff you need if you promise me something."

"Sure," Riley shrugged.

"Can you please consider my offer about being friends again?"

Riley thought for a moment before she answered.

"Fine, I'll think about it."

"Thank you."

Soon Riley had everything she needed to make this mask and left the room.

"Good night, Lucas."

"Good night, Riley."

Lucas Friar went to sleep with the image of Riley's bruised face in his mind. He hated it. It was Riley and it wasn't her fault. It was like seeing an abused puppy. It had never done anything to hurt anybody yet it was taking beating after beating itself. It was this night that Lucas vowed he would never see Riley Matthews like this ever again.


	8. Lucas' Nightmare

**AN: I'm super sorry for those of you who hoped against Riley having an abusive boyfriend. My mind is a strange and scary place!**

 **Thanks again for all the follows, reviews, and favorites! We are still stuck in the middle of the storm here. I originally rated this fanfic M but changed it because it wasn't too terrible and could be rated T for the moment. I think it's still okay, but if you disagree, leave me a review saying I should change it. If I do change it, I'm not sure if it will alert you but it will probably disappear from the general list. If you change the filter from K- T (which is the default setting for this show) to M or all filters it should be on there.**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

 _Lucas woke up in a very strange place. He knew it was a bedroom in an apartment or possibly a dorm room somewhere but where, he did not know. It was decorated pretty tastefully and the bed was quite comfortable, he just didn't know where he was._

 _Then, all of a sudden, he jumped out of bed and walked to a closed door on the right side of his room. He opened it to reveal a fairly spacious bathroom for New York City (if he is indeed in New York City). He looked in the mirror to see his reflection. It was definitely him, but possibly a few years older. He looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties. He showered and shaved as if he did it every morning. He didn't know how he knew exactly where the shampoo, body wash, shaving cream and razor were but he did. It was like he was back home in Texas but he was clearly not in his Texas home or dorm room._

 _He then put on a light green t-shirt and a pair of jeans before exiting the bathroom. He easily made his way into the living room and dining room, even though he had yet to recognize an inch of the space. In the kitchen, facing away from him was a girl. Her hair was brunette and wavy and reached her upper back. He knew he knew exactly who this was or else he wouldn't have gone up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist._

" _Hey, beautiful," He said as he gave her neck a small kiss._

 _The girl giggled and playfully shooed him away. He loved that laugh so much. It was infectious because the next thing he knew he was chuckling quietly with her. He continued to poke at her neck before she finally turned around for him to see it was…_

" _Come on, you know you love it, Riley."_

" _I do, but now's not the time." She said._

 _Lucas let out a sigh as he looked at her again. Even though he wasn't completely in control of this version of himself, he forced himself to look at her. She looked very different yet again, but if anything he was even more attracted to her this time around. Her hair had grown out a bit but it wasn't nearly as long as it was in middle school and high school. The brunette color was back but he guessed if they were older, she probably had to do that because of her job. If she became a lawyer, like she wanted to, she probably couldn't go to court with her hair in that ombre style she had earlier. It was very clear to Lucas she was wearing absolutely no makeup and she had on a soft blue spaghetti strap shirt and black shorts that were by far the shortest thing Lucas had ever seen Riley wear. Perhaps she had gone straight from bed to the kitchen to make breakfast._

 _The difference in this Riley that caught Lucas' eye were the two glittering rings on her left hand. He looked down at his own left hand to see a simple silver band on his ring finger. They were married in this dream? Oh, yes, this was going to be good, Lucas could tell._

 _The married versions of themselves sat down and chatted while eating breakfast. For whatever reason, this Lucas and Riley's voices were distorted so he couldn't quite pick up what they were saying but Riley was laughing and smiling a lot so he guessed it was good._

 _Lucas hadn't given his married life much thought because he assumed it wouldn't be for another five to ten years, but he liked this life he seemed to have with Riley. Having a casual breakfast on what must be a weekend was quite fun and relaxing. Their apartment seemed nice for a newlywed couple and he enjoyed talking to Riley in this light manor because the last time they had spoken, it had not been taken quite as lightly._

 _All too soon, Riley stood up but Lucas' dream self and his actual subconscious had the same thought. He reached up to grab her arm. She looked back down at him to see what he wanted and smiled as she leaned in for a kiss. Then, everything went black._

 _The next thing Lucas heard was not what he expected. Somebody was screaming. It was a very, very bad kind of screaming too. Like somebody was in lots of pain. He felt very drowsy and tried to open his eyes right away be he couldn't. Slowly, the world came back into view and he was looking up at a grey New York sky._

" _Lucas! Lucas!" A girl screamed. This was enough for his dream self to snap to attention as he looked at the scene that unfolded in front of him. There was Riley, the same grown up Riley he had just kissed moments ago. This time however, she was being held back by two men as another threw punch after punch at her. She didn't seem to have any cuts or bruises yet except for a large black eye; identical to the one Lucas had seen on her earlier_ _tonight_ _._

" _Pretty boy won't be able to help you now," the man snarled as he threw another punch to Riley's temple._

 _Lucas felt pure rage as this was happening. He hadn't felt this way since he was in middle school back in Texas. Yes, he was angry when he saw the real Riley with her black eye earlier_ _tonight_ _but he couldn't have done anything. All he knew about the guy who did that to her was his name and he was pretty sure there were at least a thousand Dylans in New York. But now, he was watching her take punch after punch from these strange men and he knew he could do something about it._

 _Lucas pushed himself off the ground but nothing happened. He tried again and again but he was only able to make it off a few inches at the most. It was like some invisible force was pushing him back down._

 _Then, a man came walking down the sidewalk. Lucas thought that maybe these thugs would stop beating up on Riley if this guy came by, but they didn't. If anything they started hitting her faster and harder._

" _Sir, can you help her, please?" Lucas pleaded as the man came in earshot but this man just kept on walking. It was like he couldn't even see Lucas, Riley or the men that were beating her up._

 _A few more people came walking down the sidewalk and Lucas pleaded with them as well. Still, nobody even seemed to notice something horrible was happening. The area became flooded with people, like Times Square on a busy day but nobody, not one, tried to help Riley and nobody could even see her. Lucas tried over and over again to get off the ground, hoping he could somehow break this force, but it seemed impossible. She continued to call his name from where she was and he shouted hers back hoping he could give her a little bit of hope so she would hold on until he got out of this, because for her, he would find a way._

" _Lucas! Lucas!"_

" _Riley! Riley!"_

"Riley," he heard himself mumble as he began to wake up. He sighed, relieved that it was just a dream.

Lucas placed his head in his hands, which were still shaking from the horror he just saw. Riley wasn't always perfect to him. Yes, she had done somethings that annoyed him and things he didn't understand but he had never wanted to hit her. He hadn't met anybody who had really gotten the chance to know her who wanted to cause her any physical pain. So who was this Dylan guy and why was he different from everybody Lucas and Riley had ever met?

He figured that was what had caused the dream. He had had some dreams about Riley in the past, some good some bad, but never this bad. Then again, he had never seen her with an injury worse than a scrap on her knee from playing softball in P.E., nor had he ever imagined what Riley or any of his friends looked like with a giant black eye.

Lucas stood up and walked to the empty kitchen to pour himself a glass of milk so he could hopefully get back to sleep. He looked at the clock on the oven and saw that it read five o'clock. He decided to make a cup of coffee instead. Cory and Topanga were more than likely going to be awake in an hour or two anyway.

Lucas took a moment to think about what he was going to do today. What if Riley's mask to heal her black eye hadn't worked? Would he tell the truth and say it was Dylan, now he knew that Cory and Topanga didn't like him? Would he lie and say he fell asleep before she got home? He knew Riley would much appreciate the latter of the two choices but he didn't think that was right.

What if Riley's mask had worked? Could he just pretend like nothing happened? As far as anybody else knew, nothing _did_ happen. But it would be the right thing to tell her parents, wouldn't it? Lucas knew if he had a daughter than somebody was beating up on, he sure as hell would want to know about it.

Lucas had to decide what he valued more: the truth or his friendship with Riley. He always thought those were two things that go hand and hand, like peanut butter and jelly. He never thought for a second they would be inharmonious. It just wasn't right and he didn't like it one bit.

Just as he poured the cup, Lucas heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He figured it was either Cory or Topanga but he was wrong.

"Hey, Lucas." Riley said. She was still in a pair of warm pajamas, not that he didn't expect her to be. Her eye was completely healed so her mask had seemed to work.

"Hi," he responded as he tried to smile. "Good to see the mask worked."

"Yeah, well it's not the first time I've had to use it," she mumbled.

He wanted to yell and shout at her and tell her how big of an idiot she was for staying with this idiot. He didn't necessarily want her to choose him over Dylan, he just wanted her to get out of this situation before it got any worse. However, since their friendship was hanging by a thread, he didn't think expressing any of these thoughts would be a good idea.

"I don't like that," he simply chose to say.

"I know," she responded. "I wouldn't expect you to."

They were silent again, and for the first time since Lucas had returned to New York, it wasn't a comfortable silence between the two. It wasn't awkward either but instead, full of tension. Lucas felt like as the seconds went by, some force was pulling him apart bit after bit. He wanted to say something so badly but he didn't know what. Finally, he thought of something.

"Why are you up so early?" He asked.

"Oh, I thought I heard you moving around out here," she told him. "I wanted to tell you that I thought about what you said last night and I think I want to be friends again."

"Really?" he asked. This was the best news he could have gotten right now.

"Yeah," she responded. "I have really missed you since high school ended but I think we needed the space. But now, if you'll have me back, I'd really like to be your friend again."

"I would love that, Riley." Lucas responded.

"Really?" she asked this time.

"Yeah, I would." He said as he crossed the room and engulfed her in a hug. She immediately responded back and let out a quiet sigh. Lucas so loved being able to hold her in his arms yet again and promised himself he would never end up in a situation where he would let her go again.


	9. Mission Impossible

**AN: I'm gonna pull a GMW writers on you guys and just say where am I going? Not where you think.**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

Riley seemed very, very tired all day. Lucas didn't expect her to be particularly hyper, nor did anybody else it seemed, but Riley was struggling to stay awake at breakfast and lunch. Although Jack and Shawn had already returned home and were out on an assignment, everybody else was still there and Riley was still expected to make small talk with everybody. So far, she wasn't doing a great job.

"What's with Riles?" Maya asked as she walked up to Lucas who was staring at Riley as she struggled to keep her eyes open while talking to her grandparents.

"Oh, nothing." Lucas lied. "I guess she didn't get enough sleep last night."

"What time did she get back?" Maya asked. "You never texted me or Farkle."

Damn it! Lucas knew he had forgotten something.

"At like eleven or so." He lied. He was pretty sure he could have convinced just about anybody else of that but Maya saw right though him. She raised her eyebrow at him as if to say she didn't believe him.

"Twelve?" Lucas tried. Maya's eyebrow was still raised.

"One?" Eyebrow.

"Two?" Eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, two thirty." He sighed. She seemed to believe him this time because she let her disbelieving eyebrow fall.

"Two thirty?" Maya asked. "That's really late."

"I know," Lucas said as he looked back over at Riley. "I was getting worried about her." The great thing about a sleep deprived Riley was that Lucas could stare at her for about as long as he wanted and it wouldn't be strange to her.

"Did something happen between you guys?" Maya asked. "Because the last time I talked to you, you seemed to want to rip her head off."

"I asked if she wanted to be friends again and she said yes." Lucas said simply. He knew Maya cared quite a bit about Riley and in some sense was overprotective of her best friend so he knew she would freak out if she found out Riley had a black eye. For all Lucas knew, Maya had no idea Riley had ever had a black eye.

"That's all?" Maya asked.

"Yeah," Lucas responded.

"You know, somehow I find that hard to believe, Huckleberry."

"Believe what you want, pancakes."

Maya's expression changed from one of disbelief to one of sadness. Lucas couldn't remember seeing her look this down in a while. He was in no way, shape or form attracted to Maya Hart but he still cared about her. She was like his annoying little sister that only he could pick on. Therefore, only he could cause her any negative emotion but even when he did, he felt bad. Lucas was about to speak up before Maya beat him to it.

"Did he hit her again?" She asked in a quiet voice. Lucas was surprised by this level of maturity Maya was displaying. He had expected her to be flying all over the room telling Riley's family about her abusive boyfriend. However, the night was still young.

"Yeah," Lucas sighed. "You know about that?"

"Where do you think she learned how to make the mask, cowboy?" Maya asked. It was true that if any of the four were going to help Riley out with a problem like that, it would be Maya. But what Lucas didn't understand is why Maya hasn't told at least Riley's parents about this.

"Why haven't you told her parents?" Lucas asked.

"Why haven't you, moral compass?"

"What makes you think I haven't told them?"

"Well, I don't think I'm much like Cory or Topanga but I know if my daughter was being abused by her boyfriend, I sure as hell would put a stop to it as soon as I could. I'm sure they would too and so far, it doesn't look like they've done that." May explained.

Lucas glanced back to the kitchen where the rest of Riley's family was. Riley was leaning against the counter, still continuing her conversation with her grandparents. Her mother and father were in the kitchen, holding a discussion with Rachel and Eric. They all looked so happy and carefree. Lucas knew that there was no way any family in their right mind would look so cheerful if somebody was being physical hurt for the wrong reasons.

"Does Farkle know?" Lucas asked as he turned back to Maya.

"Does Farkle know what?" Farkle had butted into their conversation.

"Yeah, he does," Maya said to Lucas before turning her attention to Farkle. "Dylan hit Riley again."

Farkle had a look of fury in his eyes. Lucas knew that Farkle had feelings for Riley and Maya both. He had made it clear to Lucas when it became obvious that Riley had a crush on him that he was okay with Riley ending up with him because he knew Lucas would treat her right and he would still have Maya. However, this did not stop him from sincerely caring about her.

"He is not the guy I want to take one of my women." Farkle said with a fury that might have been funny in any situation other than this one.

"I don't like him either," Maya said.

"You know, I haven't met him but I can't help but agree." Lucas told them. "Do you guys have any other plan to get rid of him other than me seducing Riley?"

Lucas half expected a devilish smile to appear on either one of their faces, but he was instead met with a look of bewilderment from the pair.

"We'll think of something," Maya reassured him.

Lucas nodded just as Topanga let out a loud, frustrating sigh followed by a rant to her husband.

"Cory! You didn't get any cake for the New Year's ball drop! It's tradition! How could you forget?!"

Although the rage that overcame Topanga Matthews in that moment would have scared Lucas senseless, Cory seemed unfazed. He guessed that was a result of nearly twenty years of marriage.

"Sorry, dear," Cory said. This only seemed to provoke Topanga more.

"Sorry?!" She exclaimed. "You're sorry?!" Now Cory Matthews seemed a little scared.

"I-I-I wa-was going to but, but…" He looked around the room for an excuse, his eyes eventually landing on Lucas. "But I didn't know he was going to be here!"

"Thank you, sir," Lucas said as he tipped an imaginary cowboy hat. His attention fell on Riley and he noticed she was smiling. It was good to see her smile because he swore he hadn't seen her smile since Christmas day.

"Don't try to blame this on Lucas! You forgot, Cory Matthews!" She exclaimed.

"It's okay, mom," a somewhat groggy Riley answered. "I can go get the cake."

"Don't be silly, sweetheart," Topanga answered her daughter, changing demeanors in a flash. "You're exhausted. You had a long night."

"I'll do it," Lucas said before he could stop himself. "I wasn't supposed to be here anyway."

"You really don't have to, Lucas." Topanga said.

"No, its fine. Just give me the place and cake and I'm good to go." Lucas said. "Think of it as me saying thank you for letting me stay for the holidays."

"All right," Topanga said. "If you're sure. The cake is at a bakers in Manhattan called Simply Cakes and the cake is the New York New Year's Special."

"Got it," Lucas said as he grabbed his jacket and left the apartment.

Truth be told, he needed to get some fresh air. He needed clear space to think, or as much clear space he was going to get in New York anyway. He wanted to think about a way to convince Riley to break up with Dylan. It seemed like such a horrible thing to do but he also seemed like a terrible person.

After thinking about this plan for a subway ride to Manhattan and a cab ride to this baker, he realized he probably wasn't the best person to come up with this plan because it all resulted in him hugging her or kissing her or cuddling her or something far from platonic. He still had a crush on her that felt extremely unresolved and he wanted some answers and perhaps a little action.

Lucas got lucky when he got to the baker's because there was one New York New Year's Special left. He paid for the cake and left. He thought about hailing a cab to take him to the subway but decided to walk instead. It would be cheaper on his college budget and he still wanted to see if maybe he could do the impossible; think of a way to break Riley up with Dylan while remaining strictly platonic friends.

The only flaw in this logic was that Lucas didn't remember New York very well and rarely ever went to Manhattan. He thought he was going the right way for a long time but he soon realized he was in a place completely unfamiliar. It was becoming darker and darker too. It didn't look like the people who lived in the area were the wisest to ask for directions to the subway. Some gave him suspicious looks, others didn't even look his way. It was very clear to Lucas that he was not welcome in this neighborhood, however there didn't seem to be any fights or brawls like he had expected.

That is until he walked down an alleyway. It looked like a gang of men were yelling at some guy. Lucas wasn't about to get involved in the fight, but his curiosity got the better of him. He was staring way too long and he heard the ring leader of the gang shout out a "hey!" before Lucas knew it was time to go.

He tried to leave and hope that maybe the man would ignore him but knew this was far from realistic. With his luck, his wish didn't come true.

"Hey!" the man shouted again as he ran in front of Lucas. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Lucas said, trying to hold firm. "I'm just lost."

He tried to push the guy back but this man wasn't having any of it. In Lucas' life he had met plenty of guys who looked like they were tough but were all talk. This guy, however, looked like he had been around the block a few times. He was a bit taller than Lucas and looked like he spent a fair amount of time at the gym when he wasn't beating people up. He had tattoos all up and down his arms and he was wearing a black beanie that concealed most of his greasy black hair, an old white tank top and baggy jeans. He looked like he might be Italian with his olive skin and dark hair. Needless to say, Lucas was intimidated by this man. Even if he wasn't, he was outnumbered three to one.

"Just lost, eh?" The man answered back. "You know, in this neighborhood, we don't take well to strangers. Especially snoopy ones. "

"Well, if you just tell me how to get back to the subway, I'll be out of your hair." Lucas tired. There was no need to pick a fight that he might not be able to win.

The man gave him a sick smirk before he flung the cake right out of Lucas' hands. This man's buddies started holding Lucas back while the man began to fight him. Lucas wasn't going to go down without a fight either. He fought back to the best of his ability, which seemed to be more than the gang of three were used to but could still keep under control.

Their fight continued down the street and into other streets. Nobody else seemed to try to get in the fight as far as Lucas could see until he started seeing blurs of blue. Before he knew what was happening, he was being thrown into the back of a cop car, separate from the gang he was fighting earlier.

Once at the police station, he was interrogated by what seemed like a good cop type. He told him he just got lost and ended up in the wrong place. Once a search of Lucas was done, he was let free. He later figured out the reason for this was the three men were all found to be in possession of cocaine. They were all booked and arrested a bit later.

Lucas couldn't bring himself to return to the Matthews' yet. It had only been a few hours since he left so if he told them traffic was really bad, they would probably believe him. However, that wouldn't explain the bruises that were now all over his face and that he was returning cakeless. He felt bad even though there was really nothing he did or could have done besides fight back. He hated fighting, ever since that one horrible day in middle school and avoided it when he could but in a situation like that, he had to fight back. He was still trying to do the impossible; think of a way for Riley to break up with Dylan without seducing her.

Speak of the devil, around five o'clock, Riley Matthews herself came flying into the police station. She looked frantic and completely alert for the first time today. However, Lucas was completely baffled as to what she was doing here. There was no way she could have known he was here.

"Riley?" Lucas asked standing up from the bench he was sitting on.

"Lucas?" Riley asked, equally confused. "What are you doing here? And why do you have so many bruises?"

"I got in a fight with this guy," Lucas told her. "He started it. I think I was looking at something too long. Why are you here?"

"Oh, I was watching the news at home and saw that these three guys had been busted for drug dealing and they showed their pictures on the screen and one of them was Dylan! I came here to help him." She explained before making her way up to the front desk.

Lucas looked off at the TV positioned in the corner of the room. It just so happened the news story Riley was talking about was playing again. There was no audio but three mugshots of the men Lucas had been in a fight with earlier. The names of the men were displayed under their mugshots. Dave Aquilino, Joe Maurizio and…

Dylan Moschetti.

It seemed Lucas Friar had done the impossible.


	10. Girlfriend

**AN:** **Thank you to everybody who has stuck with me though this story! I think we are almost done, maybe a chapter or two more and I'm thinking about a sequel. Let me know what you think.**

 **Also, to those of you wondering how Riley and Dylan met, that will be answered in the next chapter!**

 **Follow, review and favorite!**

* * *

"Riley!" Lucas exclaimed as he ran toward her and grabbed her wrist before she could reach the front desk. "Riley, wait!"

He pointed to the TV screen which still displayed Dylan's mugshot. "Is that Dylan?"

"Yes," Riley said simply. Lucas was a bit surprised that she didn't seem to show any compassion or love when she said his name. That was a good sign for him.

"Oh, my god." Lucas chuckled. It really was quite funny. He had put his crush's boyfriend in jail! He wondered how many people had wished for that to happen. He might have felt bad if he didn't know that Dylan was an abusive boyfriend to Riley.

"What's so funny?" Riley asked, confused and angry. Was now really a time to be laughing? Her boyfriend is in jail! There has to be something she can do to get him out.

Lucas caught his breath and looked up at Riley who was completely perplexed.

"Dylan was busted for drug dealing but he was brought in for fighting. With me!" Lucas continued laughing. To him this was the most hilarious thing that had ever happened. Not to say Lucas was going to revert back to his old self, but he had always been so worried about getting in a fight again and now the circumstances could not be any more hilarious. Plus, unlike last time, he didn't start the fight and he wasn't in any trouble.

"You?" Riley asked, their expressions being polar opposite. "Dylan got in a fight with you? Dylan's going to jail because of you?!"

Lucas caught a flash of pure rage in Riley's eyes and figured now might be a good time to stop laughing.

"Riley, Dylan got himself thrown in jail." Lucas tried to explain. "I didn't ask him to fight; I was just passing through the neighborhood. And you know I sure as hell didn't give him the drugs. He did this to himself. I just happened to be there."

"Dylan is not the type of person to fight without being egged on." Riley said.

"Oh, really?" Lucas asked. "Then what the hell do you do to piss him off?"

Riley looked surprised at Lucas' point. It seemed unfair but she thought she would be the bigger person and dignify him with an answer. The problem was, she couldn't think of a good one. This felt just like sophomore year of high school when her friends would ask about her then boyfriend, Charlie's motives. She knew she didn't do a great job explaining it then but she was older and smarter now so she should be able to come up with something. However, nothing came to her mind.

"I…" Riley started. Lucas looked at her, eager for an answer. "I got in his way when he tried to deal with his business."

"His drug business?" Lucas asked, skeptically.

"I didn't know he had a drug business." Riley said. "But I guess, yes that was probably what it was."

Lucas could sense that she was lying to him. That's what happens when you are best friends with somebody for seven years. He sensed she was telling the truth about not knowing about Dylan's drug business but she was lying about getting in his way.

"Riley, all I did was look at him down an alleyway and he started pummeling me." Lucas stated.

"That's probably because he doesn't know who you are." Riley said.

"Yeah, he did say something about not liking strangers." Lucas said.

There was a moment of silence before Lucas spoke up and asked a question that he thought was very risky and could result in Riley yelling at him or slapping him. He had to risk it though.

"What do you see in that guy, anyway?" Lucas asked.

"Well," Riley started choosing her words carefully. "He didn't always used to be like that. He was really nice when I first met him and I held on because I felt like deep down he was still that guy."

"Riley," Lucas sighed. "I've always admired your ability to see the best in the worst of people but sometimes, people are just bad."

"Yeah, murderers and robbers are bad." Riley stated. "Conning is bad. Drug dealing, depending on the drug, is hardly anything to worry about."

"Yeah, well murderers don't start with murdering. They start with smaller crimes like drug dealing or fighting." Lucas stated.

"Yes, some of them do turn out that way but some of them turn their lives around and I believe that with me around, Dylan will be a victim of the latter."

"Riley! He abuses you! His own girlfriend! I don't see how you get him to listen to you. Not unless you asked to be beaten up on."

"Of course I don't!" Riley yelled. She didn't care if she was in a public place or not. She was beyond angry and Lucas was going to get it. "But just because he doesn't always listen to me now, doesn't mean that he's not going to listen to me in the future!"

"But the only guy who's worth your time is a guy who will listen to you all the time, not just when he's supposed to." Lucas fired back.

"Where the hell am I supposed to find a guy like that?" Riley spat.

"Right here!" Lucas said gesturing to himself.

The atmosphere in the room changed drastically. Riley was completely and utterly shocked. Were all her dreams since the day she fell on Lucas' lap on the subway coming true? Did he have feelings for her?

"What did you say?" Riley asked much more quiet than before.

"I… uh…" What should Lucas say? He got caught up in the moment with Riley and revealed one of his biggest secrets to her. Should he take it back? Should he tell her everything? Something in between? To hell with it, she might as well know now.

"I said I think I can make you happier than Dylan." Lucas said. "I-I'm not saying I'm to one for you, that's kind of hard to know since these feelings didn't come up until a few days ago but I would never, ever treat you like he did."

A surge of courage he never knew he could have had ran through Lucas and he walked up to Riley and placed his hands on her arms.

"I really like you, Riley." Lucas said. "But I understand if you don't want anything to do with me. It's been seven years. We all make mistakes."

"It's been seven years." Was all Riley was able to say. It has been seven years and this moment had been seven years in the waiting. Riley wanted more time to think about this decision but she knew she had to think fast. Lucas Friar had feelings for her. How did she feel about that? She decided very quickly: tough cookies because seven years was way too long to wait.

"You're right," Riley said. "We all make mistakes. Including Dylan. I have to see if he's all right."

Riley turned her back on Lucas and closed the distance between herself and the front counter.

Lucas was heartbroken. Now he knew how Riley felt all those years. No wonder she didn't want to go out with him. He wouldn't want to go out with somebody who just left you feeling as low as you possibly could. Lucas really wanted to leave and just go to Farkle's and beg for a place to sleep but he stayed put because his heart was so shattered, he could only breathe and listen to Riley's conversation with the female police officer at the desk.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked with a monotone voice.

"Yes, I'm here to see Dylan Moschetti." Riley said.

The woman typed something into the computer in front of her then answered Riley.

"Mr. Moschetti and his lawyer have opted for only a select list of people to visit him. Can I see your ID?"

Riley handed the woman her driver's license and stated, "I should be on there. I'm his girlfriend."

The police officer nodded as she took Riley's license and changed her point of view from Riley's ID to the computer.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Matthews," the officer said. "I appears you aren't on the list."

"What?!" Riley exclaimed. "That's impossible-"

"Oh, my god." Riley was interrupted by a woman running into the police station. She had big, curly blonde hair and at least fifty pounds of makeup on her face, most of which had run off her face as if she had been crying. She was wearing a bright blue shirt that barely concealed her heavy chest and a skin tight and short gold pencil skirt. Her heels were so high neither Lucas nor Riley knew how she could stand in them, much less walk. Just by the three words she had said, they could tell she had a very heavy Long Island accent.

The woman pushed past Riley to get to the lady police officer at the first desk.

"I'm here to see Dylan Moschetti." The lady said. "I'm his girlfriend."

Riley's jaw hit the ground as the last part of her sentence came out. Dylan had another girlfriend? He promised he was faithful to Riley. Well, he never promised but it was always implied. How could he?

The police officer looked at the ID the woman had handed her and back up at the computer like she had done previously for Riley. Instead of handing the license back and telling her she wasn't on the list she stood up and opened a door that let the woman into the back.

"Come with me, Ms. Vivenzio." the police officer said as this Ms. Vivenzio went back with the police officer as fast as she could.

Riley was heartbroken. Not only had Dylan cheated on her, he didn't even allow her back with him. However, this other girlfriend was allowed in the back. At least when Charlie cheated on her in high school, she was still his number one girlfriend. She didn't understand this one bit.

Lucas could see that Riley was in pain even though she wasn't facing him. He would be very upset too if he were in the same situation. He felt very bad for her. No guy should ever treat a girl the way Dylan treated Riley. He didn't need to be in a relationship with her and knew that's probably not what she wants at the moment anyway. But he did know she needed somebody to be there for her and he planned on being that guy. He might enjoy a night of happy conversations with Riley's family more but he knew she needed him right now and he wanted to be there for her. In sickness and in health, right?

Lucas took a few paces so he was now standing in front of Riley. She looked absolutely crushed and he hated it. Riley wasn't supposed to be sad. She was supposed to be happy, thinking of rainbows and unicorns. Her happiness was infectious but unfortunately, so was her sadness.

"Riles-" Lucas tried to say before she softly cut him off.

"Can we go home, please?" She asked.

Lucas just nodded as he put his arm around her shoulder and lead her out of the police station and to the subway. They would be home soon and hopefully they could eventually forget about everything that happened tonight.


	11. The Night that Changed Everything

**AN: Maybe in the sequel I'll kill Dylan with swords or something. It makes me sick that guys like that exist. Well, thank god for guys like Lucas right?**

 **Also, I've never been arrested or known anybody who has been so I'm not sure if they can do that but like I said earlier, for the sake of this story they can.**

 **Anyway this is the final chapter of this story but I am currently working on a sequel that will be titled Smile and that should be up soon! I won't be able to update Smile as often as I did Attractive because school has started now and school has to take priority over this. I also think I'm going to write a one shot from Riley's point of view that happens between chapters 7 & 8 of this story explaining why she decided to become friends with Lucas again and why she dated guys like Charlie and Dylan. ****Until next time my lovely readers!**

 **Review and favorite!**

* * *

Lucas and Riley got on the subway with ease. Their ride back to her apartment was fairly quiet. Lucas kept glancing at Riley to make sure she was all right. Well, that wasn't very well worded. Lucas knew Riley wasn't all right and never asked since they had left the police station. She would probably say yes but he knew she was hurting. He wished he had fought Dylan harder. He hadn't seen him since he was arrested, but Lucas knew he could have done much more damage. But he also didn't know that that was the Dylan Riley was dating. He also didn't know that Dylan not only abused Riley but he cheated on her. Lucas doubted it was just that one girl too. There were probably several but he was also pretty sure that they more closely resembled the woman they saw tonight, not Riley.

As Lucas stole occasional glances at Riley, he saw that her eyes were filled with unfallen tears. He knew she wanted to cry but was probably embarrassed to do so on the subway in front of thousands of people. He understood. He wouldn't want to cry on the subway in front of this many people either but he also knew the longer she held this back, the worse it was for her. He hoped they would be at their destination as quickly as they possibly could be.

Not twenty minutes after they boarded did they finally reach their destination. Riley flew out of her seat, giving Lucas little time to catch up with her. He finally caught up with her at the top of the stairs. He knew they had a few blocks to go before they reached her home and he wanted to talk but he didn't know what to say.

"Do you want to go to Topanga's?" Lucas asked, lamely. "I'll buy you a smoothie."

He knew this was probably not what she wanted but he wanted to cheer her up and get her mind off of everything that had happened this evening.

"No," Riley said. "I want to go home."

She didn't seem mad or upset when she said this. Her voice wasn't croaky nor did any tears leak from her eye. If anything she sounded… determined.

Little did Lucas Friar know that Riley had plans of her own. Yes, Riley was upset about this whole situation with Dylan. She had thought about it on the subway ride from the police station. She was willing to give him everything in hopes she would help make him a better person but he wouldn't do it. Lucas was right; he would never listen to her. Not when she was telling him about her day or not when she was begging him to stop hitting her. As she thought about all of this, she started to feel less upset with Dylan and more disappointed in herself. How had she not seen it before? Maya, Farkle, her parents and now Lucas were trying to convince her not to date him but she wouldn't listen. She knew she was always stubborn but she would have thought she would notice if she had a boyfriend that wouldn't treat her right. That had happened twice now and she was sick of it. She was sick of not being truly loved by her boyfriend.

But then Lucas the Good came along and finally admitted he has feelings for her. He told her he thought he could make her happy. Riley felt like he could do all of that and had known since seventh grade. She didn't know if she deserved it but she decided when they made the final stop before they would have to get off that she was going to take advantage of it. Tonight.

When Riley and Lucas were about a hundred yards away from her apartment complex, Riley spoke up.

"My family's out seeing the Christmas tree tonight." Riley said. "Dad always likes to go a few days after Christmas but before the New Year so it's not crowded. Anyway, we have to go through my window because I don't have my key."

"Okay." Lucas said.

The pair headed back down an alleyway to the fire escape that aligned with Riley's apartment. They climbed up the steps until they got to Riley's window and easily climbed into her room. Riley had been in such a rush to see Dylan that she had left the window open in her escape.

Once they were inside Riley's bedroom, Riley turned to face Lucas. She was about to do something she had done a million times but had never felt so confident doing it. It was mostly because for the first time she knew he felt the same way.

"So," she started, dragging out the word. "Did you mean all those things you said in the police station? You know, about having feelings for me?"

Lucas sighed and answered truthfully. "Yes."

Before Lucas could even register what was happening, Riley's lips were on his. He knew this isn't what he should be doing but she could always throw him off his game with her kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, enjoying the feeling of holding her in his arms again. Much quicker than last time, Riley's tongue demanded entry. For a split second Lucas thought he should push her off to talk about what happened tonight. She needed to talk about it, he knew that for sure. Also, he was pretty positive that she shouldn't be kissing another guy this quick after a break up. He was thrilled she was kissing him and would never complain about something like that but he didn't want to turn into a one night stand and then never speak to her again. They were going to be friends or boyfriend and girlfriend, nothing else.

However, Riley pried Lucas' mouth open with her surprisingly strong tongue and Lucas completely forgot what he was going to say to her or do to her. All he wanted to do was keep kissing her. If their first kiss under the mistletoe was perfect and had passion, love, heat and innocence, a new word would have to be created to describe this kiss which contained twice the amount of passion, love and heat than the first one did. Lucas was absolutely positive that no moral man could escape a kiss like that.

He felt Riley start to turn him so he was now facing her door. She broke the kiss and he almost told her she shouldn't be doing this until he looked in her eyes and saw a fire he had never seen before. It made his knees weak and he lost his ability to speak. She took her jacket off and tossed it on the ground before she began kissing him again. Her hands went up his arms and shoulders. He felt her tugging at his jacket too and eventually she had pulled it off and threw it on the ground next to hers.

Riley stared at him with that fire in her eyes again. She returned to give him a quick kiss but it was broken when Lucas felt himself falling. He landed on her bed and Riley wasted no time climbing on top of him to straddle him. She grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him like he was dying. How Lucas found the wherewithal to stop this insanely wonderful thing that was happening to him, he didn't know, but he did.

"Riley," he managed out between kisses. "Riley, stop."

Riley shot up abruptly. What had happened? Was she a bad kisser? Lucas said he had feelings for her, right? Did she just travel back in time? Her hair was still short so that wasn't it. What did happen?

"Is there something wrong?" Riley asked. Lucas sat up but she continued to straddle his lap.

"No, I mean that was great," Lucas said. " And as much as I would like to continue this, I don't think now is the right time."

"Now's not the right time?" Riley asked. "Let's see, my family's not home, I just broke up with my boyfriend and you said you had feelings for me, how is now not the right time?"

"Because of all of those things." Lucas said.

"I don't get it then." Riley stated and she slouched a little bit.

"Riley, you are right about all of those things and all of those things make you emotionally vulnerable." Lucas explained. "I doubt this is what you really want to do tonight and I don't want you to regret any romantic moments between us before we even start a relationship."

Riley sighed. Lucas, as usual, was right. She probably wouldn't want to do any of this if it hadn't been for her break up with Dylan. She didn't even think for a moment if she would regret any of this the next day if Lucas let her go as far as she wanted with him.

"You're right," She sighed. "I just don't want to think about it is all." Riley started to feel tears coming to her eyes.

"That's okay," Lucas said. "You don't have to talk about it but if you want to let anything out, I'm here for you."

Riley gave him a small smile and felt a few tears leak out of both of her eyes. Partially because she was upset Dylan would treat her this way and partially because Lucas was being as sweet and kind as any boy had ever been to her.

"Really?" She asked.

"Really." He stated as he cupped her face in his hands and wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs.

Riley let out a deep sigh before she caught sight of a picture in the corner of her room. One of her and Dylan when he was in college with her. They had met at orientation and started dating shortly after that but Dylan had only lasted two weeks in school.

Riley stood up and walked to the back of her room, grabbed the picture and tossed it on the floor with a rage. She noticed he was in a lot of pictures on this wall. She took all of those off and threw them on the ground too. Even pictures that focused on her and Maya and he was just lingering in the background or she knew he was at the place the photo was taken. It felt good to release this anger but she quickly felt tears begin to blur her vision. Before she could help it she was crying. Really crying. She put her face in her hands and began to weep.

She removed her hands from her face when she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her. Riley pressed her face into Lucas' chest as she continued to cry. She would have to apologize for getting her tears and snot on his perfectly nice shirt later. But right now, she could care less if she was getting his shirt all messed up. She just held onto him like her life depended on it.

Lucas held her in his embrace. He enjoyed holding her but hated seeing her upset. He rubbed her back while she continued to cry and kissed her head every now and again, hoping that she would understand just because one person didn't like her doesn't mean another person might be in love with her. The feelings that Lucas had been feeling towards Riley were scary since they were happening to him so quickly, but he knew she had been feeling this way about him for seven years so he had some catching up to do.

Lucas and Riley had been standing in this embrace for what felt like hours. They'd be lying if they said they weren't starting to get tired but neither of them wanted to be separated from the other.

"Do you want to lay down?" Lucas asked after a while.

Riley nodded as she pulled out of his embrace. She walked over to her door and made sure it was locked before she joined Lucas in bed. She leaned into his side and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gently kissed her forehead.

"Thank you, Lucas." Riley said. "For everything."

"Anything for you, my queen." Lucas responded.

Riley gave him a smile and then quickly fell asleep on his chest. It was amazing to think last night she didn't get a wink of sleep because she was debating whether or not she and Lucas should be friends. Now, she wouldn't know what she would do without him.

* * *

Riley woke up early in the morning to a loud thud. She sprang up out of her bed like a Jack in the Box only to see Lucas standing in front of her. She assumed it was him who made the loud noise.

"Hey, it's okay," Lucas said as he wrapped his arms around her. "You can go back to sleep."

"What are you doing? What time is it?" Riley asked, still calming down from the panic Lucas had given her.

"It's five o'clock." Lucas said. "I, um, got an alert on my phone."

Lucas showed Riley his phone screen and on the lock screen it said: **6:45** **\- Flight from New York to Chicago**

"I'm really sorry," Lucas said. He knew now was not the perfect time to leave. "I completely forgot about it with everything that was happening these last few days and I-"

"No, its fine," Riley cut him off.

"Really?" Lucas asked.

"Yes," Riley answered, honestly. "I know you didn't expect any of this to happen and neither did I, honestly."

Lucas nodded. He was happy she was thinking logically about all of this. It made him having to leave a bit easier. However, he wasn't absolutely sure she was going to be all right.

"Will you be okay?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah," Riley said. "I've got most of my family here and Maya and Farkle."

Lucas nodded again. He knew if anybody could make Riley feel better or help return her to her old self when things got a bit wild and crazy, it would be Maya and Farkle. They had proven it time and time again in middle school and high school and although lots of things had changed, he doubted that had.

"And I have your number so we can talk or text, right?" Riley asked.

"Yes, of course," Lucas said. "Any time you need me, city girl."

Riley smiled at him. She knew he was going to have to leave eventually but she didn't realize it was going to be this soon. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him. Most of them could be asked through text or on the phone but there was one that deserved to be asked in person.

"Do you have to leave right now?" Riley asked as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

"No," Lucas answered. "I've got a few minutes."

"Can I ask you something?" Riley asked.

"Of course."

"What are we?"

Lucas took a deep breath and sat down next to her. He was glad her brain seemed to work better than his did in the morning because he was about to leave without asking that even though he really needed an answer too.

"I… um… I don't know," Lucas said. "What-what do you think we are?"

"I was hoping you'd know." Riley said.

They sat in silence as they each racked their brains about what to call themselves. Were they just friends? Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? What were they?

"I don't think we are just friends anymore," Riley spoke up first.

"I don't think so either," Lucas said. "But are we really boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I don't…" Riley trailed off. She had been hoping and praying to be Lucas Friar's girlfriend for seven years now and didn't think this was how she would feel in this moment. She thought she would be all giddy, maybe even let out one of her signature 'yay!'s but she didn't feel that way at all. She had just gotten out of a relationship and Lucas was going to be over two thousand miles away from her later tonight. Did she really want to start a serious relationship with somebody she really cared about and could see herself spending the rest of her life with long distance? Riley had never known anybody to have a long distance relationship but from what she had seen in TV and film and what she had read about, they were difficult. She ultimately decided that she didn't want to be his girlfriend. Not just yet.

"I don't think so," Riley finally responded. "I think we are somewhere in between."

"I think so too," Lucas said. "I don't want to start our relationship from two thousand miles away."

"Me neither," Riley said. "Is there a word for what we are?"

Lucas thought about this long and hard. There had to be a relationship between two people who came from different places who weren't quite boyfriend and girlfriend. They just weren't emotionally ready yet. Suddenly, it hit Lucas like a ton of bricks and he knew exactly what they were.

"We are a king and a queen." Lucas said. Riley looked up at him, slightly confused. "Think about it; in the old days kings and queens would often come from different places. They would marry so they could have power over both of their lands but they were rarely ever in love or ready for a real relationship."

Riley smiled at him. She was his queen and he was her king. Of course she would never introduce anybody to Lucas like that but she liked this little game between the two of them. That Christmas present was a really good idea.

"I like that," Riley said as she leaned on his shoulder. "Are we going to be the types of kings and queens who have lots of affairs behind the others backs'?"

"No," Lucas said. "I was planning on keeping this exclusive."

"Me too," Riley said.

She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up at him. He was smiling down at her in a way that had always made her heart skip a beat. She loved it when he did that to her and she loved the fact he was here. He would have to leave in a few minutes but he was here now and he was here last night when she was an absolute mess and that's all that mattered.

"I'm really glad you decided to come here." Riley said.

"I'm really glad I came, too," Lucas replied. "I guess we have Maya and Farkle to thank for that."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure they are going to be just as involved in whatever this is as we are." Riley said.

"You're right about that," Lucas said. "And I'm going to call it a potential relationship."

"I like that," Riley said. "Once we get our royal affairs in order, we can have a real relationship."

Lucas chuckled quietly as he kissed her forehead. Riley looked up at him and gently placed her lips on his. She kissed him sweetly and gently because this was probably going to be the last time she would be able to kiss him before he had to leave for the airport. He backed away all too soon.

"Do you have to leave now?" Riley asked.

Lucas looked at the clock on his phone before answering her.

"Yeah, I do," he sighed. He stood up and grabbed his luggage he had brought in the room earlier. "I'll miss you." He said as he kissed her cheek.

"I'll miss you, too," Riley said. "Call me when you land."

"I will," Lucas said as he began to step out of her window. "Goodbye, my queen."

"Goodbye, my king."

* * *

Lucas boarded his plane, thinking about this trip. It had its ups and downs but he couldn't have thought of a better way to spend the holidays. He now had a queen or a potential girlfriend that he had never been so excited about. He had never imagined having a future with somebody as clearly as he did with her. He was thrilled with what the future would bring the pair and couldn't wait until he finally felt comfortable enough to call her his girlfriend because, now, she was everything.

Lucas was so glad he finally saw Riley Matthews as attractive.


	12. Author's Note

**AN: Hey guys!**

 **Thanks for your wonderful reviews, follows and favorites for Attractive! This story is over but Riley and Lucas' love story is far from that! That's why I've continued with my sequel to Attractive called Smile! It picks up at the end of the gang's senior year of college and Lucas gets an internship that sends him back to New York. You will be able to witness Riley and Lucas go through everything an adult couple will go through from fluff to fights. If you haven't already, it would mean a lot to me if you guys would check that out, maybe favorite, follow or leave a review letting me know what you think!**

 **I also wrote a oneshot for this story called Distraction that takes place between chapters 7 & 8 and I am currently working on my first Joshaya fic titled Hart to Hart that also ties back to this story. So far everything I've posted comes back to Attractive so if you want to check those out, that would be awesome too!**

 **Until next time my lovely readers!**


End file.
